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16
Aug
A Harrogate Christmas timeline: What the town did and when
The recent confirmation that Harrogate will not have a Christmas lights switch-on event (the last one was in 2019), plus this week's announcement from Harrogate BID concerning its plans for the festive period, have sparked conversations in some quarters about what attractions have appeared in the past, and when – and which ones were the best.
So we did some digging to come up with a timeline of recent Christmases, and what each year had to offer in central Harrogate.
Pre-covid
The highly popular Harrogate Christmas Market was held annually on Montpellier Hill Stray from 2012 to 2019, until it was halted by the covid pandemic.
Organised by local company led by the late Brian Dunsby, it incorporated 170 traders, all from Yorkshire and 90% from the Harrogate District.
A busy Harrogate Christmas Market in 2019.
2020
Due to covid lockdowns and tier restrictions, large organised public Christmas events and the traditional Harrogate Christmas Market were cancelled for 2020. Instead, festive activities were limited mostly to local decorative displays and online initiatives.
2021
Harrogate BID pulled out the stops to make up for the previous year’s non-event, by putting up a helter-skelter and ferris wheel next to the war memorial, and a Victorian carousel in Crescent Gardens.
The helter-skelter in Harrogate town centre.
The Candy Cane Express road train made its festive debut too, running circuits around the town centre.
The BID also organised the Father Christmas Experience – where children could visit Santa in his grotto – and held two weeks of “magical interactive elf-training sessions” at the Crown Hotel in the run-up to Christmas.
Harrogate Christmas Market had 53 coachloads of visitors booked to come in 2021, but Harrogate Borough Council pulled the plug, refusing to grant it a licence.
Instead, the council organised its own event – the very first Harrogate Christmas Fayre – in conjunction with Market Place Europe, a specialist market company based in Greater Manchester.
On the first week of December, Little Bird Markets also set out its stalls in the Valley Gardens’ sun colonnade for its first artisan Christmas market.
Shoppers at Little Bird's market in the sun colonnade.
2022
The new innovation for 2022 was an outdoor ice-skating rink with an après ski bar, set up in Crescent Gardens.
The ferris wheel and carousel returned, as did the Christmas Fayre and the Candy Cane Express.
This time, Little Bird Markets took over part of the Valley Gardens for the first two weekends of December.
The ice rink in Crescent Gardens.
2023
The Christmas Fayre, carousel and road train returned once more, as did the outdoor ice rink, with a larger skating area and a sheltered tipi.
The North Pole Post Office, funded by Harrogate BID and produced by Harrogate International Festivals, was back for its fourth year, and the Father Christmas Experience, sponsored by Harrogate BID, was hosted at the Cedar Court Hotel.
This time, Little Bird extended its run in the Valley Gardens to three consecutive weekends. Organisers of the Christmas Market on Montpellier Hill tried to revive it in 2023, but were turned down by the council.
Harrogate Christmas Fayre. Photo credit: Richard Maude.
2024
The ferris wheel, carousel and Christmas Fayre were back for another year, but the ice rink was not. A prolonged spell of heavy rain the year before had kept would-be skaters away, and when they returned, the ice – which was not protected from the elements – was in terrible condition, leading to customer complaints and wrangling over refunds. As a result, a three-year deal with the operator was cut short and 2024 remained rink-less.
2025
The Christmas Fayre, which had come in for some criticism in previous years for having too few local artisans and too many food stalls, was cut down from 17 days to just 10 days.
In addition to the Christmas Fayre stalls the around the war memorial, the ferris wheel was joined by a new large ‘alpine’ bar area.
One of the 40 stalls at the 2024 Christmas Fayre.
2026
It seems that criticism of Harrogate Christmas Fayre has finally caught up with it, and – as we reported this week – it will not go ahead for a sixth year.
That’s not to say there will be no Christmas market at all – just not the town centre one organised by Market Place.
But the ice rink will return, and this time it will be covered to guard against the kind of downpours that brought about its demise in 2023.
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