Record turnout celebrate heritage at Ilkley Carnival 2014
Record-breaking numbers have taken part in this year’s Ilkley Carnival, with £15,000 being raised for local causes.
On 5 May, over 1,000 paraders kicked off the event with a parade themed on the Grand Départ, with schools, theatre groups and musicians taking part.
Various activities were held during the day, including a football tournament, a classic car roadshow, circus workshops, live music, and stunt cyclist performances.
Attracting 2,000 more people than last year with 10,500 attendees, carnival organisers were surprised at the turnout.
Ilkley Carnival chairman Andrew Stacey said: “We are not only delighted by this incredible sum of money raised for our local community but also by just how broad our reach is becoming.
“With a spectacular Ilkley Carnival animation created by Ilkley’s Alice Bourgeois which reached over 33,000 people through tweets and retweets, Ilkley Carnival has been a success in the widest possible sense this year.”
£7,500 raised from ticket sales, donations, sponsorship and advertising went to primary beneficiary LS29 Special Needs Support Group, with the remaining profits shared between charities and community organisations.
Karen Goodman, co-founder of the LS29 Support Group, said: “This is such an incredible amount of money for a group the size of ours. It means so much to so many people and will ensure we can continue to support existing and new families of children with special needs.”
The Ilkley Carnival upholds a 100-year tradition of an Ilkley May Day celebration, and has paid out more than £90,000 to local good causes in the past 16 years.
