Preparations are well underway for the Dartford Festival of Light which will take place on Friday October 23 between 6pm and 8pm. Organised by Cohesion Plus in partnership with Kent Equality Cohesion Council with the support of Dartford Borough Council and Arts Council England the Festival is now in its 7th year. In the build up around 600 young people have benefited from workshops delivered by Same Sky Arts to create lanterns for the Festival.

The aim of the Festival is to bring the communities of Dartford together through the arts and promote key values of respect, excellence, friendship and equality. The Festival this year is the biggest to date and is split into 3 distinct parts. Between 6pm and 6.30pm there will be entertainment on One Bell Corner as local vocalist Mark Lees sings some popular chart tunes.

11 local schools will then take part in a lantern parade starting around 6.30pm involving some 550 young people which will also involve the Four by Four Dhol Drummers, Bloco Fogo Samba, Crocodile Brass, Same Sky Arts and Stilt Walkers. The parade will be led by the Mayor of Dartford Cllr Ian Armitt, Artistic Director of Cohesion Plus Gurvinder Sandher and the Leader of Dartford Borough Council Jeremy Kite MBE and will start on One Bell Corner in the High Street. It will then go via Hythe Street, the Orchard Shopping Centre and Market Street to Central Park where it will climax by the Band Stand.

Once the Festival reaches Central Park after a series of short performances and presentations to the schools, there will be a spectacular fireworks display to climax the celebrations delivered by the awards winning Phoenix Fireworks.

According to Gurvinder Sandher the Artistic Director of Cohesion Plus “This is our third major event in Dartford this year and the most long running. I am really proud that this is our 7th Dartford Festival of Light. Each year we try and tweak it and make it better and this year I believe we have a great mix of visual and performing arts which will climax with a spectacular fireworks display which we hope will be a great addition to the Festival. All of our events in Dartford focus on the High Street and this is no exception, we hope the communities of the borough will come out and support the Festival and local business before and after it.”

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