Credit_Brian van der Veen
Saturday 4th December, Dover hosted its first seasonal Dover’s Winter Light Up event, where the town shone bright!
The event produced a partnership via Destination Dover, which saw a magical lantern procession delivered by Future Foundry. Mayor of Dover Cllr Gordon Cowan, Leader of Dover District Council Cllr Trevor Bartlett, and Keith Brymer Jones of The Great Pottery Throw Down led over 300-star lanterns carried by children and the community from Pencester Gardens to Dover’s Heritage Quarter, featuring spectacular giant lanterns of a Dover, Deer, Fox, Little Egret and Chough, created by Freyja Crow, Frazer Doyle and Amelia Johnson, and Lisa Oulton, based on illustrations by Greg Stobbs.
Furthermore, the day hosted a packed Christmas Market, with an array of activities including pottery workshops by Ceramic Art Dover and Dover Pride delivering live entertainment featuring Miss Lilli Berlin, debut performance by AFAB Drag Queen Emma Panda, and Drag King Gavin Alarrf
Credit_Brian van der Veen
Lisa Oulton, Director Future Foundry, We are over the moon at the fantastic response to the event, and the lantern builds. Most importantly, thank you to everyone who came to carry their lantern through the streets and create the procession. We were excited to be asked to create the lantern procession for Dover as it enabled us to deliver sculptural lantern training to young people in the town. Our ambition would be for this to become an annual event and to be able to involve more people, more bands and more builds!
Diederik Smet, Destination Dover, I would like to thank all, who came and supported the inaugural Dover’s Winter Light Up. We could not be happier with the turnout, and the joyful atmosphere felt throughout the day. And a special thank you to Future Foundry, Frazer Doyle and the team of Dover Pride, Ceramic Art Dover, all the volunteers, and Dover Town Council and Dover District Council for making this possible.
Town Mayor of Dover, Councilor Gordon Cowan, The Dover Winter Light Up made Dover shine brightly – with the community coming together after such a difficult period. I would like to thank all the who help make this special event happen and look forward to next year’s event.
Save the Date!
Dover Winter Light Up plans to be back Saturday 3rd December 2022.
Credit_Brian van der Veen
Credit_Brian van der Veen