ORGANISERS of the revived Cardigan Carnival are confident the local community will come out and support a packed programme of events.

A carnival has not been staged in the town since 2000 and when Mayor Richard Jones took over earlier this year, one of his pledges was to revive the tradition and get townsfolk involved once again and create a sense of community spirit.

A committee has been set up and a full programme of events has now been planned, based around the week of the Cardigan Show and culminating in a carnival parade through the town on Saturday, August 5.

“We have managed to track down the last Carnival Queen from 2000, Anne Holmes, and she will be coming for the day and will crown the new king and queen and it’s a nice link back to the past,” said committee member Rowan O’Neill.

“It has been a lot of hard work but we have been encouraged by the response of people and reviving the carnival means something special to people in the town and hopefully it will create a bit of a buzz and be a big success.”

A full programme of events has been planned, kicking off on Saturday, July 29 with a fancy dress pub crawl starting at the Rugby Club at 6.30pm.

The following day there will be a family treasure hunt, starting from the Grosvenor pub at 3pm.

There is bingo at the castle on Monday, July 31 (7pm) and on August 3 there is a cocktail quiz night at Pendre Arts Café (7pm).

On Friday August 4, there is the Mantle beer barrel relay outside the Guildhall (7pm) with only two places left, with the highlight the carnival parade through the town from 1.30pm on Saturday August 5, followed by activities, including bands, stalls, games and a tug-of-war on the King George V playing field until 6.30pm.

For the parade, walkers can turn up in fancy dress on the day and it will be judged in the playing field. Floats are asked to register through the Facebook website that has been set up. Floats will meet on Station Road and cross over the bridge into town and will be judged as they pass the Guildhall.

The carnival king and queen will be pulled by shire horses and crowned outside the Guildhall.

The town’s traders are also taking part, with a spot the deliberate mistake in shop windows. Entry forms can be collected from participating shops.

And there has been a big response to a request for old photographs from past carnivals.

Cllr Jones said: “We have lost a whole generation who have not been involved in the carnival and hopefully this will bring back some of that community spirit.

“We want people to have fun and restarting a tradition that will continue for a long time to come.”

Information about float registration and events can be found at https://www.facebook.com/CardiganCarnival/