Fun, spectacular - and the greenest yet!
Norwich Lord Mayor's Weekend is proving to be a truly amazing event, with thousands of people turning out to enjoy an array of delights.
The weekend's free two-day extravaganza began on Saturday at 12pm in Chapelfield Gardens, where musicians from the Black Dog Music Project and the Garage treated the crowd to performances on stages powered by 100pc renewable energy.
Mary and John Felgate, who were visiting from Kent, said that the music was a great way to bring more people to the event. "It's great to see such a mix of young and older musicians have a space to share their talent."
Exercise, another aspect to sustainability, was also encouraged at this year's event.
Riverside Leisure Centre pitched their gazebo near the bandstand, and ran a competition to see how quickly visitors could complete three sets of eight reps with a kettle bag.
Chapelfield Gardens also hosted activities for children to get involved, including a creation station by the Fairyland Trust.
The charity, which encourages conservation through storytelling and activities aimed at younger children, helped kids make leafy crowns for the Lord Mayor's procession.
Leah Kirby, a volunteer for the trust, said: "It's just a fun way to get the kids involved, and the atmosphere here has been really lovely."
Saturday's main event, however, was of course the procession.
Forty floats and entries contributed, more than double that in 2023.
Having moved away from fuel-powered vehicles, this year's parade was also fully carbon neutral to make it safer for families with younger children.
Mariana Pinho, who runs Sustenta Carnaval, an organisation dedicated to preventing used carnival costumes from going to landfill, was proudly sporting her own recycled outfit.
"We've diverted 50 tonnes of costumes from going to landfill. We take those costumes and turn them into something new.
"It's so important to bring sustainability into the carnival sector so people can have fun, look great and not harm the planet," she said.
In addition to some new colourful costumes, the procession welcomed back crowd favourites, including Global Grooves puppets.
Nina Smith, who works for the business, said the newest addition to the business' collection was the mechanical peacock, with the oldest being Oxumare, the Brazilian god of rebirth.
The procession began at 3pm at the Norwich Cathedral under the Empingham Gate.
Lord Mayor Vivien Thomas, who was appointed in May of this year, said: "I feel amazed and really grateful for the crowds that have turned up.
"It's an honour to lead the procession and represent this amazing city with the sheriff. It'll be a day to remember."
Following the Lord Mayor and other city civic dignitaries, was the Lord Mayor's chosen charity: the Benjamin Foundation's Boom Young Carer's Service.
The charity offers support to children, young people and families throughout Norfolk and Suffolk through childcare, mental health, youth, family and housing support services.
Alice Stevenson, who manages the young carer's service, said: "The money being raised from today will go towards the service to help all our young carer groups, which we run fortnightly and offer for carers to have come and have some fun and respite from their caring roles."
The celebrations continued after the procession, with the UK Foo Fighters headlining the evening's programme.
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