City of Lights Parade

City Centre Truro

Last night John and I had the most amazing experience yet here in Truro by attending Truro’s City of Lights Parade.  The parade goes throughout the downtown streets of Truro and consists of massive themed lanterns made by local artists and schoolchildren.  The lanterns are made by willow and tissue, then lit the night of the parade.  During the parade, there is a ceremonial turning on of Truro’s Christmas lights.  Each year has a theme and this year it was a “magical” theme.  There were fabled creatures and mythical legends both big and small as well as bands and dancers throughout the parade. And magical is a perfect way to describe our experience last night.

We left our flat and decided to make a stop to pick up some hot holiday drinks (gingerbread latte and peppermint mocha…..yum) for the evening outside.  We joined the massive crowds on the street and were lucky enough to be standing on a raised part of the sidewalk with a pretty great view of the parade ahead of us and the parade behind us, both amazing views!  The parade started and we instantly were in awe of the creations made.  Some were big, some were small, some turned in circles, others had moving parts.  We couldn’t believe the amount of creativity we saw in front of us.  There were dragons, elves, puppets and even Elvis!  The schoolchildren who made the lanterns walked in the parade carrying their own creations.  Throughout the parade there were samba dancers, bagpipers and local bands to feed the excitement of the evening. 

Yes, that is Elvis....guess that counts as a "Legend" :-)

Moving Dragon

Yay, the lights are on!

Once the parade was winding down, John and I walked along the parade route and witnessed all the people and children enthralled by what was in front of them.  It was fun to see all the kids on their parent’s shoulders watching and themselves hanging onto light up wands and swords.  Made us both think of our nieces and nephews back home. 

Enjoying the parade!

Once the parade had ended, everyone seemed to just mill around the city centre.  We joined the crowd and enjoyed the Christmas lights while walking the Truro streets.  We even stopped and shared a pasty!  By the end of the night, we eventually made our way home, feeling so lucky to have shared such an enchanting experience together.