Bangor group revives carnival to spur city spirit
A group is reviving the tradition of a town carnival in an attempt to kick-start community spirit in Bangor.
Saturday's event comes 12 months after 200 people marched down the high street demanding that something be done to improve city life.
Organisers say the carnival has already succeeded in getting groups from across the city to work together.
Bangor City Football Club, who have won the Welsh Cup for the third year running, will lead the carnival parade.
A funfair has been set up in Beach Road in Bangor to play host to various events andup to 30 visiting carnival retinues, such as "queens" and "princesses" from all over north Wales.
"We've really gone to town with advertising our event and we've got retinues from all over, including Amlwch, Benllech, Nefyn, Rhyl and Prestatyn," said organiser Nigel Pickavance.
"We, as the people of Bangor, have done this for ourselves, and we're hoping that it will be the spark needed for community spirit in Bangor," he added.
He said the hope was that the revived carnival would become an annual event, and a committee would be set up to run it.
"We can then move on to other projects," he said.
Mr Pickavance, who works as a postman in Bangor, said there was an idea originally to set up a political group, but it was decided it would be better to stay as a community group, and that seems to have paid off.
"We have the respect of the people as there is no hidden agenda here," he said.
"Today we've had 30-40 people helping in some way.
"Before this I didn't know any of them, and friendships are being made here," he said.
"Bangor had pockets of different communities, but now they've come together for this," he added.
Mr Pickavance said he hoped the day would be a success "and our children grow up to see what community spirit means".