The Lantern Parade, held as part of Trowbridge’s Christmas lights switch on, was held on Friday 15 November 2024, in Trowbridge Town Park.
In the lead up to the event, Trowbridge Museum held a number of free workshops for people to create lanterns to bring to the parade. The community engagement team produced free ‘Lantern Packs’ for people to make their own lanterns at home. The pack included willow and tissue paper along with an instruction guide and a step-by-step video.
Hundreds of people, including families, children, nurseries and schools, attended the workshops and collected the lantern packs. On the night, Trowbridge town park was lit up by a beautiful array of colourful and unique lanterns.
The grant from Selwood Housing allowed Trowbridge Town Council to purchase the materials for the lanterns and give the packs to the local community for free, making the event accessible and inclusive and bringing the town together through a magical shared experience.
Izzie Compton, community engagement and events manager at Trowbridge town council, said:
“The lantern parade was the star of the show at our Christmas lights switch on. It was wonderful to see so many Trowbridge residents bring their lanterns to participate or simply come to watch the colourful display. The event had a real community feel with happy, smiling faces all round!”
Harry, a Trowbridge resident, said:
“My daughter loved making her lantern at Trowbridge Museum and the staff there were friendly and very patient with us. We loved being part of the parade and seeing all the different lanterns, it was a really enjoyable event.’”
