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Ryde Arts Festival & Parade 2008




A flurry of festival activities

Raw Samba led the parade as it made its way down from the top of the town to the seafrontThe parade, which was led by Raw Samba, left Dover Park primary school at 1:15pm continuing up Star Street, turning right just past the cinema to follow on down through the High Street, Union Street and along the Esplanade arriving at Eastern Gardens at 3pm. This is the only carnival on the Island to feature an all-pedestrian choreographed procession and the costumes and performances, once created, are used to enhance the main summer carnivals around the Island.

This joyous, vibrant and lively event marked the start of an eight-day program of fun-filled activities in the form of Ryde Arts Festival. The festival, which is co-ordinated by Ryde Art Works, encourages groups of promoters, performers, poets, photographers, musicians, artists, schools, community groups and art experts to join together in producing an extraordinary blend of creative skills and knowledge.

Over 1000 performers from Island schools and community groups took part in the paradeTheatre productions, art exhibitions, library and poetry readings plus various musical performances took place at various locations throughout the town leading up until the conclusion of the event on July 12th. A beach soccer tour also took place on Ryde's fantastic sands, during which top teams from across the UK competed against one another for the title of English Champions.


Entertainment and enlightenment

The procession made for a very colourful spectacleAs if all of this wasn't enough, the Arts Festival parade and activities were carefully organised to coincide with Ryde Regatta, which took place on Ryde seafront over the weekend of 4, 5 & 6 of July. The regatta itself is an annual three-day fun-packed programme of family entertainment, local bands and DJ sessions. The line-up of superb Island musicians to play on the tent on Eastern Gardens included Wild Oats, Cozy Flashbak, The Arrivals, The Apple Beatles and The Chancers. A fantastic firework display on Ryde seafront rounded-off a superb day of entertainment on the Saturday evening.

The crowds lined the length of Union Street to get a glimpse of the parade as it made its way down towards Eastern Gardens If you wish to discover more about the Island's new Carnival Learning Centre which opened its doors in April, the centre has its own special website developed by the Isle of Wight Council. The website can be found at www.thecarnivallearningcentre.org and includes information about courses, workshops, events and exhibitions on offer at the centre. This unique facility provides a range of carnival-themed activities and it is hoped it will become a beacon of excellence for teaching carnival skills in the UK.


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