Organisers to put all efforts from this year's Lantern Parade into 2025 event

Organisers of the popular annual Lantern Parade have said all efforts from this year’s event – which was cancelled due to Storm Darragh – will go into next year’s event.

The free-to-attend parade was due to see crowds take to the town centre on Saturday (December 7) with colourful lanterns to enjoy an evening of fun and entertainment.

But the adverse weather conditions saw organisers Norden Farm announce on the Friday evening that the parade had to be postponed.

The arts venue has said this year’s parade will not be rescheduled, but efforts from this year are going into next December’s event, ‘making it more spectacular than ever’.

All of the lanterns created this year will be stored safely and reused at next year’s parade.

In the run-up to the planned event, a series of lantern making workshops were held, which saw schools and community groups create their own unique lanterns.

In total, Norden Farm worked with more than 600 youngsters from local schools and community groups.

Some of these included Boyne Hill Infant School, Courthouse Junior School, Achieving for Children, Thames Valley Adventure Playground (TVAP) and The Autism Group.

Norden Farm said it is ‘very grateful’ to the funders of the parade, which include the Spoore Merry and Rixman Foundation, The Cyril Taylor Charitable Foundation and The Louis Baylis Charitable Trust.