South Park is the place to be on Sunday 3rd July for Carnival in The Park, the South East’s biggest, free community event.  With lots to do for all ages, there is more going on than ever before, with four stages, traders’ stalls, family-friendly activities and international food.  The Carnival Procession, which starts in South Park at noon and ends with each group taking a bow on the Main Stage, features almost 700 children and adults, all with costumes and performances themed around the Carnival Theme ‘Time of our Lives.’  Last year 450 took part, making this year’s celebrations the biggest yet.

 

Click here to download the Carnival Programme

The Carnival Procession

Children from 14 Oxford schools - dressed in a whole host of wacky themed costumes covering everything from pirates, disco divas, Oliver! and Oxford’s car making heritage – will be joined samba bands, majorettes, Punjabi Dhol drummers, belly dancing groups, and Kung Fu experts during the two hour carnival procession in South Park.

 

The procession – which will stretch over the entire length of South Park – will be the centrepiece of this year’s carnival with more than 300 schoolchildren taking part alongside giant puppets of Roald Dahl's 'The BFG' and the stars of the hit film 'Dirty Dancing.'  

 

Engineers from MINI Plant Oxford have been helping schools with structures and costumes and many are themed around car history, including an almost life size model of a MINI Clubman and Morris Traveller.  The MINI Plant people have been travelling to the schools' workshops in their Carnival decorated MINI. 

 

The schools will be joined by ten groups of carnival performers from as far afield as the Isle of Wight, Brighton, Hastings, Portsmouth, Wycombe, Reading and Milton Keynes.  The out of town groups are members of Carnival Network South East, who have this year chosen Oxford for their Gala showcase of Carnival arts.

 

Music at Carnival

Performances this year include 17 music and dance acts on the main stage plus twelve performers from Talent Oxford.  The Ark T Stage features twelve local bands, rappers and acoustic artists. On the Main Stage, during the afternoon and evening ‘The Original Rabbit Foot Spasm Band’ will be appearing fresh from a major stage performance at Glastonbury, alongside acts including The Heavy Dexters, The Empty Vessels, and Secret Rivals plus DJs and choirs.

 

Eating, shopping, activities 

Carnival-goers will be able to take part in everything from steel pan and street dance workshops, to helping construct a 40ft wicker man, to spraying a car club vehicle with graffiti, as the number of free family and community activities has risen from six in 2010 to 14 this year.  

 

The Age UK Oxfordshire World Tea Tent will offer a peaceful spot for a cup of tea, song, knitting and more, and little ones will be kept busy in the children's area.

 

The Carnival Village features 68 stalls this year, including  food sellers from around the world, from Oxford ice cream to Moroccan cuisine.  For the first year revellers will be able to get a real taste of the event, thanks to CarnivAle, a beer formulated especially for the event by Witney’s Wychwood Brewery.  And visitors can take a browse around for everything ranging from children’s games to solar panels.

 

Happenings on Cowley Road

On Cowley Road itself, The East Oxford Community Centre, SS Mary and John Church and Union Street Youth Centre will keep the carnival spirit alive on The Road. The Youth Centre has a climbing wall, barbecue and badge-making workshop, while SS Mary and John will host its summer fete complete with a tour of its nature reserve and a climb up the church tower to get a bird’s eye view of Cowley Road.  

 

Carnival Cinema

When the nine-hour event comes to a close, the party is set to continue at the East Oxford Community Centre on the corner of Cowley Road and Princes Street with Carnival beats from 8pm until late, and the Ultimate Picture Palace will be screening Fire in Babylon at 8.30pm with 50% of the proceeds going to Carnival.

 

Procession organiser Anya Fox said: “We have the biggest and best collection of performers.

 

“There’s some absolutely brilliant things going on, some lovely big structures involved in the procession, some great music and some really bright, colourful costumes.