Aylesbury town centre is heralding the start of Christmas on Thursday 15 November with the annual Lights Switch On.
The event will include stage entertainment hosted by Mix 96, which will take place between 5.30pm and 7.30pm in Aylesbury’s historic Market Square, along with a street food court and a funfair in Kingsbury which will run until 8.30pm. The lights will be switched on at 7pm and will be followed by a spectacular fireworks display.
Visitors are encouraged to arrive early and get their place to enjoy a packed line-up of fantastic entertainment, including: local bands who’ve featured on Mix Discovers, a fabulous school choir, superb house band The Eclectix, and some talented entertainers from the Bucks Got Talent competition.
The performers will be helping to put Aylesbury in a festive mood before they flip the switch and get Christmas underway.
In addition, Aylesbury Waterside Theatre will be swapping Neverland for Aylesbury town centre as stars of this year’s Aylesbury Waterside Pantomime, Peter Pan, will be taking to the stage to warm up the masses. Favourite funny man Andy Collins, who is playing Smee, will be joined by Nick Jr’s Holly Atterton, who’s starring as Tinker Bell in this year’s festive production.
Commenting on the upcoming event, Andy Collins said: “The lights switch on marks the official start to Christmas. And it’s always great to see the town turn out in force to help ignite the Christmas spirit!”
After the lights switch on and fireworks display, visitors will be able to enjoy the fun fair in Kingsbury, which will run until 8.30pm, and there will be a vast range of mouth-watering street food in Market Square.
To help deal with any lost children at the event, parents are asked to collect an ID band for them to wear from the Meeting Point area located at the top of the High Street. Parents will be asked to write their mobile number on the ID band – just in case they get separated from their children. Thames Valley Police also recommend that parents have a photo of their children on their phone.
Aylesbury Town Centre & Regeneration Manager Diana Fawcett said: “There are a huge range of Christmas activities happening in Aylesbury across November and December, both for families and for shoppers. And the Aylesbury Town Centre Partnership is delighted to be bringing back this phenomenally popular Christmas Lights Switch On event.”
Details of upcoming events and attractions can be found in the Aylesbury live guide.