Get ready for a gruesome and grisly time Buddies because the programme for the Paisley Halloween Festival has been announced.
The town centre will be transformed into a spookily spectacular wonderland for the celebration.
Spellbinding street performers will wow audiences against the impressive backdrop of Paisley Abbey and town hall.
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Amongst the installations to be enjoyed will be a “giant dramatic interactive walk-through fire garden,” and a fire-breathing dragon.
Organisers tell of a “superhero rooftop battle and gravity-defying performance” from Scotland’s leading aerial dance company All or Nothing, as well as a mobile dance performance with a troupe of local dancers led by award-winning visual theatre-makers Megahertz.
Festival-favourites Spark! LED drummers and the spectacular flame-throwing PyroCeltica will also be returning this year.
And there will be a “spooky sprawling spider’s lair” featuring giant ‘Arachnobot spider’, inspired by the legendary story of ‘try, try again’ and Robert the Bruce, whose grandson – King Robert II of Scotland – was born in Paisley Abbey.
The big event will be returning this October with a spectacular programme - including the return of live performances for the first in three years.
The full programme has been revealed today, with the party set to begin on Thursday, October 27 and finishing on Saturday, October 29.
Installations and performances will be underway from 6-9pm on each day of the programme.
The number of attendees is expected to swell into the tens of thousands with the whole weekend being free-to-attend.
This year’s event is themed ‘heroes, myths and legends’ and is being delivered by Renfrewshire Council in partnership with internationally-recognised circus performance specialists Cirque Bijou, as part of Scotland’s Year of Stories 2022, and supported by EventScotland’s National Events Programme.
Louisa Mahon, Renfrewshire Council’s head of marketing, communications and events said: “We are thrilled to today announce the programme for the Paisley Halloween Festival, which has become a frequent feature on Scottish and UK lists of must-see Halloween events.
“It’s free to attend and offers something for all the family – so we look forward to welcoming tens of thousands of visitors over the three evenings, which will boost local traders, who we will be working with to help promote everything the town has to offer.
“A really important part of the festival is in providing a stage to showcase the considerable talents of our local creative community – who will spend the next two months working with and being inspired by some of the best artists and performers in Scotland.
“That supports the wider work we are doing through Future Paisley to help embed the benefits of being involved in culture and the arts across everything we do.”
Julian Bracey, artistic director of Cirque Bijou said: “We are delighted to once again be working on Paisley Halloween Festival, which is a unique and exciting event regarded as one of the best of its kind in the UK.
“Paisley town centre’s historic architecture is a fantastic canvas on which we’ve been able to create a dramatic visual spectacle, which will be brought to life by some hugely-talented performers. This is an event not to be missed and we can’t wait for people to see it.”
For more info on the programme go to paisley.is/featured_event/halloween/
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