Get ready for feast of fun at Cowley Road Carnival

Merrymakers from across the county are expected to enjoy Cowley Road Carnival as it returns for another year.

Organisers have said the free five-hour extravaganza will boast the most diverse and vibrant carnival line-up yet, with hundreds of performances planned.

Creative producer Kyla Booth-Lucking said the fiesta will feature a host of new zones, offering festival-goers a little piece of peace and tranquility alongside the booming party atmosphere.

The 36-year-old added: “What I really love about this year’s programme is all of it is pretty much local people. We almost ran out of space because there are so many people that wanted to get involved.

“There is a real nice love that everyone has for carnival, everyone wants to come. There’s a real diversity this year. There really is something for everyone. There’s so much that is packed in this year in different places.

“We know for some people, going to a really noisy, busy event is not their cup of tea but we want everyone to turn up to carnival and find something that is for them.

“The carnival is a real celebration of the community. Cowley Road, if you just walk around it, there’s food from all the world. You can hear so many different languages.

“Carnival day brings things together and celebrates that diversity, and therefore what’s on offer should reflect that.”

An oasis of calm will take over Manzil Way, with the Body and Soul Garden featuring at the Cowley Road Carnival for the first time.

Festival-goers will be able to wind down within a hand-decorated walled grass and tree area, with massages and yoga sessions all on offer.

Another section of Manzil Way will be transformed into the Family Zone, with an eclectic mix of dancing, music and outdoor activities ready for visitors.

Pony rides, parachute games, face painting, a bouncy castle, picnic area, ice cream and cake tricycles will keep visitors entertained throughout the day.

There will also be arts and crafts sessions with the Museum of Oxford, a baby changing and feeding area, as well as a variety of music sets and performances.

Ms Booth-Lucking said: “I’m hoping Manzil Way is going to be a real hot spot because there will be so much in that area people can explore.

“I think there’s going to be a lot of fun for people to get involved in rather than people just watching.”

Organisers have created online maps of routes around the carnival’s nine zones and 16 music sites, which will be open between noon and 5pm.

Festival-goers can share their carnival journeys, pictures and highlights of the day on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter to be in the chance of winning an acoustic guitar donated by Cowley Road’s Professional Music Technology store.

Youngsters at Culham Parochial CofE School spent four months crafting an electric car, which will feature near East Avenue during the carnival.

It comes after Cowley’s Mini Plant sponsored the school’s Culham Roadrunners club, which enabled the children to design and build the vehicle. The car will be seen along with the Mini factory’s latest John Cooper Works model.

Ashton Mills and Jonny Wild, of arts project Re-Resonate, have been leading Rhythm Craft workshops for the carnival.

They have been using recycled materials to craft instruments which will be used during the festival’s procession.

• Building: Culham Parochial Church of England School with their car, sponsored by Mini – from left, Octavia Lobb, 10,  Toby Elford 11, and Joe Churchill-Stone, 11

Cowley Road Works, the team behind the annual carnival festivities, began preparing for tomorrow’s event last September.

The team set out to raise the £120,000 needed to host the event and has amassed more than £92,000 to fund security, event management, road closures, traffic diversions, first aid cover, toilets and street cleaning. Organisers launched their Quid for Carnival campaign last month, urging festival-goers to donate just £1 to the cause, and volunteers armed with bright yellow donation buckets will try to help organisers hit their target tomorrow.

Oxford Brookes University is supporting this year’s carnival as one of the event’s lead backers, to coincide with its 150th anniversary.

The theme for the event will be Creating Our Future, to reflect the year-long programme of events marking the university’s early beginnings as the Oxford School of Art in 1865.

Community relations manager Andrea Siret said: “The carnival is a great opportunity to celebrate the vibrancy of this special part of the city and all the great things which happen every day at Oxford Brookes.

“We have some extra special activities, games and competitions for families and friends.”

Activities include a wheel of fortune, bookworm competition, Victorian area and time capsule.

Cowley’s Mini Plant and the Patsy Wood Trust are also sponsoring the carnival.

To get involved use #cowleyroadcarnival and see cowleyroadcarnival.co.uk

ROAD CLOSURES

Organisers of the Cowley Road Carnival are encouraging festival-goers to travel to the event by foot, bus or bike.

Cowley Road will be closed to traffic from 8am to 7pm tomorrow, between The Plain and Magdalen Road.
Dawson Street, Chapel Street and Manzil Way will also be closed to traffic throughout the afternoon event.

Bus company Stagecoach will divert its number 1, 10 and 12 services along Iffley Road and then Church Cowley Road, before joining their normal routes at Between Towns Road.

Oxford Bus Company will also divert its city5 and U5 services along Iffley Road.

Passengers are advised to use bus stops along Iffley Road during the carnival event.

Union Street car park, which is behind Cowley Road’s Tesco store, will be closed between 7am and midnight tomorrow to make way for the Hobgoblin Car Park stage.

Oxford City Council said it will reopen at 7am on Monday, with limited spaces available at St Clement’s car park for drivers.

Additional bike lock areas will be provided opposite Cowley Road’s St Mary and St John Church, as well as in Union Street.

PROCESSION

COLOURS will sparkle and shine all along Cowley Road during the Carnival’s big procession tomorrow.

Procession and production coordinator Anya Fox said about 795 people, representing a total of 34 groups from across the county, will parade along the street which will be lined by thousands of revellers.

Dancers, musicians, school children and community groups, all wearing bright costumes, will walk or cycle with giant-sized props during the carnival’s fossil-fuel free procession.

They are expected to set off from The Plain at 1.30pm, finishing at St Mary and St John Church, near Magdalen Road, between 2.30pm and 2.45pm.

Oxford Brookes University, one of the carnival’s lead sponsors, will head the procession with a special  parade celebrating its history as it marks its 150th anniversary this year.

Ms Fox, who has been preparing for the carnival procession since January, said tomorrow’s parade would be twice as long as it was last year.

She said she had spent hours carefully crafting the line-up, recruiting stewards and plotting where street furniture and potholes were so they can be avoided during the march.

The 48-year-old added: “The atmosphere at carnival is just electric. 

“I just think it’s amazing, so many different sorts of people come out and celebrate.”