Festive opening parade of community groups and local artists in gold and red costumes, with a marching brass band, that lights up the Christmas lights street by street.
The 12 Days of Christmas Parade kicks off Chester's festive season on Thursday 19 November, starting at 7pm. It's the city's Christmas opener, and the route takes it right through the centre: it starts on Bridge Street, passes the Cross, goes along Eastgate Street into St Werburgh Street, past the Town Hall, and finishes in Watergate Street.
What makes it different from most Christmas light events is how the lights actually come on. Chester is the only town in the borough without a single switch-on ceremony; instead, the lights flicker to life street by street as the parade passes through. The Town Hall Square tree goes up beforehand and waits for the procession to reach it.
Leading the way is a marching brass band, followed by community groups and local artists dressed in gold and red hoop skirts and bonnets, pink tinsel collars, white swan puppets, pink feather boas and gold wreaths. It's a proper community affair, with the costumes and the band setting the pace as the parade moves across the city centre.
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There's a bit of history behind it, too. Chester's Christmas parades go back to the Saturnalia, the winter festival the Romans held when they first built the city walls, and the city still marks it with a parade every December. The most well-known of the evening processions is the Winter Watch, which brings back a night more than 500 years old: the City Watch, Chester's early police force, used to march around the city at Christmas and take charge of its keys, followed by a banquet. The 12 Days of Christmas Parade is the one that gets things started this year. It's free to watch, so you can pick a spot along the route and see the lights come on as the parade passes by.
