CHRISTMAS will be arriving in Winsford on Friday with the Christmas Street Festival and lights switch-on.

The festival will run from 4pm to 7pm on Friday, November 25, with a lantern parade leaving Winsford Cross Shopping Centre for the festival site along the Old High Street at about 4.30pm.

Mark Bailey, Winsford Town Council clerk, said: “This year’s festival will have something for all the family and the town’s Christmas lights promise to be brilliant.

“The Old High Street remains a great venue for the street festival as it will give hundreds of people the chance to see the wide range of shops and businesses that operate there, as well as the chance to see the town’s Christmas tree in all its glory.”

Primary school children from Winsford will parade with their own lanterns made with the help of local artist Russell Kirk.

The Christmas lights will be switched on by Town Mayor Cllr Steve Smith at 5pm shortly after he has judged the ‘Best Dressed Christmas Shop Window’ competition.

The Christmas lights will run from the river roundabout up Wharton Hill, and provide more than a mile of illuminations.

There will be live music by local bands and artists as well as a Christmas market, Sharland’s funfair, street entertainers, puppet shows and carol singers all adding to the festive fun.

Families can also enjoy free tractor and trailer rides along the whole route of the Christmas lights. Starting from Church Street, the specially decorated trailer will take festival goers along the full length of the High Street.

Father Christmas will also be making an early appearance in the St Luke’s Hospice double decker bus.

The festival will end with a bang at 7pm with a firework display.