‘It will be as close to the real thing as possible’: Northampton Carnival organisers look ahead to online event

As carnival weekend approaches, the organisers are looking ahead to the online version and how to keep the carnival spirit alive.

The coronavirus pandemic has caused Northampton’s popular carnival, which usually parades through the town, to be cancelled.

Due to take place on Saturday (June 13), the 16th annual event will be the town’s first ever online carnival.But the organising committee is confident that their ‘through the years’ parade video kicking off at 2pm on social media, as well as creative activities, quizzes and more will fill the carnival void for many.

Morcea Walker MBE, DL, chair of the Northampton Carnival Arts Consortium, said: “We’re trying to make it as near to the physical carnival as possible.

“We’re trying to get the community involved because without the community there is no carnival and Northampton has an incredible community spirit.

“We want people to get into the spirit of things and we want people to be cheerful.

“We’re sad that we are not having this event but we’re equally excited to see what we have done in the past and we’re so looking forward to 2021 so things can improve.”

On the day, when the parade would normally begin, a video remembering the past carnivals will stream on social media platforms.

A team of volunteers, who Morcea is keen to thank, is currently putting the video together and it is expected to last between 75 and 90 minutes.

Morcea added: “It will kick off at 2pm like the carnival would and will feature paraders over the years on the route, so some people might even be able to recognise themselves in it.

“We’ll be doing things in the run up to the start of the parade like we would with our normal carnival.

“We’re created an online workshop to make masks and head scarves, neither of which are costly.

“We want people to make something on the day and send pictures to us so we can enjoy how creative people have been.

“We’re hoping to have food recipes online too that you would normally have at a carnival.

“We’ll also be running short quizzes and we’ll be asking people to send in their photographs from over the years.”

The organisers are also hoping that DJs and performers will be able to stream to their social media accounts, to carry on the carnival spirit.

To find out more about how you can get involved, visit the carnival website and follow ‘Northampton Carnival’ on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube to watch the stream.

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