A Welshpool councillor praised the 2024 town carnival as “the best one in decades” in the events debrief.

As Welshpool Town Council looked ahead for any possible improvements for the 2025 carnival, councillors were full of praise for how the summer event went.

At a meeting of the council’s events and tourism committee on July 10, a debrief for the 2024 Welshpool Carnival, held on June 28, as well as any ways the event could be improved for 2025.

Reviewing the event, Cllr Phil Pritchard said: “The carnival this year was the best I’ve seen for over 30 years. I saw far more people out on the street than in previous years and they all enjoyed it.

“When you’ve got something that works, you’ve got to be resistant to change anything too quickly.”

 

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Some involved in organising the carnival felt the parade route and starting point needed “tweaking”, as Events, planning, and market officer Kimberly Wright said the start was “a little bit chaotic” and suggested multiple meeting points for floats and walkers.

Cllrs Chris Davies and Phil Owen agreed, saying the parade’s meeting point felt “cramped” and would be even more so if they added one or two more floats next year.

However Cllr Billy Spencer disagreed, saying: “If you start messing around with who meets and where you’ll create a pile up and over complicate it. I don’t think it was too crammed, it just needed to start quicker.”

Cllr Nick Howells, who manned the PA system throughout the day, felt it could have been improved.

He said: “It’s a minor issue, but we had a few media issues regarding the PA. We’ve got a fantastic system but there were different acts using it, each with different connections that we didn’t have access to.

“Looking ahead we need to sort that out. When someone tries to book a dance act or whatever, we need to ask if they have any specific music or media requirements.”