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26
Jul 2022
Thousands expected to line Ripon's streets for Saint Wilfrid's parade
In this 1,350th anniversary year for Ripon, full celebrations for the city's patron saint are making a return for the first time in three years.
Covid lockdowns in 2020 and 2021, meant that there was only limited activity organised in those years by the St Wilfrid's Procession Committee to keep the tradition alive.
But on Saturday, the parade, which attracts thousands to the city's streets, will be back in force - starting on Studley Road at 1.30pm and finishing at Ripon Cathedral at 4.15 - where a service will be held,
The 24-stage parade timetable and route, which will see numerous temporary road closures, can be seen by clicking here.
The St Wilfrid parade will finish at Ripon Cathedral, where a service to celebrate the city's patron saint will be held at 4.30.
Led by an actor on horseback, playing the role of St Wilfrid, the parade will be accompanied by the award-winning Ripon City Band and will include decorated floats with designs created by businesses and organisations.
Held on either the last Saturday of July or the first Saturday in August each year, the St Wilfrid's Parade is a unique event, whose origins date back to 1108 when King Henry I granted a royal charter to the City Of Ripon to hold an annual fair.
St Wilfrid is celebrated as the man, who in AD 672, founded the church in the location where Ripon's iconic cathedral now stands and the stonework in the crypt, dating back to that year, is the oldest remaining building remnant to be found in any English cathedral.
Ripon City Council event
While the revelry is on-going around Ripon's streets, the city council is marking a much more recent tradition on Market Square from 2pm on Saturday.
The Celebrating Yorkshire Day event starts at 2pm with free fairground rides for all the family, a climbing wall, face painting and Punch and Judy shows.
At 6pm, local singer songwriter Freddie Cleary, kicks off an evening of free musical entertainment and he will be followed on stage by tribute acts, either side of the 9pm setting of the watch ceremony performed by one of the Ripon hornblowers.
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