Festive spirit will be flowing in Boroughbridge tonight as the town hosts its annual late-night shopping, Christmas tree lights switch-on and a visit from Santa.
The event, organised Boroughbridge and District Chamber of Trade, will see shops stay open until 8pm.
The night will begin with the official Christmas tree lights switch-on in Hall Square at 5.30pm, followed by carols from three school choirs — Boroughbridge Primary and High School and Roecliffe Primary.
Boroughbridge Lions will host Santa and his sleigh and there will be community stalls, children’s rides and a donkey and miniature horse.
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Festive food and drink will include the Scouts’ roast chestnuts and Brighter Boroughbridge’s mulled wine and mince pies stall. There will also be a hog roast.
The shop window display competition theme this year is A Christmas Panto, with entries to be judged tonight,
The lights on the Christmas tree will be switched on by BBC Radio York’s Georgey Spanswick and the Mayor, Sean Hynes.
Chamber president Derek Hufton said:
Ripon saves Santa’s sleigh from scrap heap“Anyone coming along will find the town buzzing.
“There will be lots of great independent shops to browse and buy Christmas gifts from.
“Santa and his sleigh, along with the kids’ rides, will be big attractions to the younger generation. But wrap up warm!”
Charitable Ripon people have stepped up to save Santa’s sleigh from the scrap heap after coronavirus cancelled this year’s tour.
Lions Clubs International spreads Christmas cheer every year with its sleigh, festive music and Mr and Mrs Claus.
The group also collects money for the Ripon community but, with tight social distancing rules, the event is not viable this year. Without the means to collect money the sleigh would burn a hole in their finances, with running costs around £1,000 a year.
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To try and cut the losses Ripon Lions decided to “send this sleigh to the big sleigh park in the sky”. However, support from the public has helped to put the annual fundraising on ice, ready to return in future.
With the £100 scrap price to beat, the group opened up bidding to the community on the Facebook group “Blow Your Horn Ripon”. Within hours the bids had reached £800, and the sleigh was eventually sold for that price.
Helen Mackenzie, one of the volunteers, told the Stray Ferret:
“We can’t go knocking on doors or park up on Market Place so it would be difficult to take any donations. It is a disappointment but we hope with this money we can put it towards some great causes and towards a new sleigh for Santa so we can come back bigger and better next year.”
With many of the volunteers for Ripon Lions in the older age category, they are more at risk of coronavirus. However, they still hope to hold some form of festive tour this year even if they cannot collect donations.