KENDAL's streets came to life on Friday as the Torchlight Carnival lit up the town for its annual event.

The festival also celebrated its second year as a two-day event, with the street party in Kendal town centre building on the success of last year's inaugural event.

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The theme this year was fairytales, and the procession of floats did it full justice, decked out to tell stories old and new.

The procession also included its usual variety of attractions, including bands, dancing and vintage vehicles.

Enthusiastic spectators were lining the streets hours in advance, with some bringing camping chairs to make sure they got a good spot.

Andrew Walker, of Nelson Tomlinson School, was there with the school's samba band, who were marching in the parade.

He said: "We are playing samba music, so it is Brazilian rhythms. We have sound-activated T-shirts that will light up as we play.

"We normally do daytime carnivals. We have don Torchlight before as well, so we knew it was going to get dark at some point.

"The T-shirts are just a way to make the band stand out. Fingers crossed it will work!

"The band is primarily made up of kids, but we have some parents and teachers involved this year as well. There are 25 of us in the band in total."

Among the floats that would be in the parade was an ambitious Shrek themed one from the Kent Estuary YFC, complete with wooden castle and landmarks from the fictional Shrek setting of 'Far Far Away'.

Another standout float was the colourful offering from Dance Atikk, who had opted to base theirs on Disney characters and stories.

With plenty of members of the dancing group there early and fully costumed to look like princesses and fairies from their favourite films, the float was fully decorated with streamers and aspects of various films including Tangled and Alice in Wonderland.

Lisa Corbett was helping with the float. She said: "We are all very excited. We are going to be dancing on the float.

"They have been rehearsing every week. It is mainly our competition teams performing tonight, who range between the ages of four and 14.

"We all just love being part of Torchlight. The community all gets together decorating the town and having fun."

The festivities continued on Saturday, with the street party seeing the town full of activity once again.

Crowds turned out to enjoy the arts workshops, food and drink stalls and street performances.

Organiser Craig Russell said: "The Fairytale 2017 Torchlight was creative, colourful and full of energy. It was fantastic. We have had lots of positive feedback.

"Big thanks go to all our supporters and sponsors especially the Westmorland Shopping Centre and Kendal Caravans our Platinum Sponsors.

"We would like to encourage more local businesses to get involved and we still have a few tickets for the Torchlight Dinner on 16th November.

"We were very encouraged by the involvement of most of the local primary schools and also the commitment of Nelson Thomlinson School coming all the way from Wigton.

"This coming year we look forward to more local secondary schools and colleges linking up with our Creative Leaders Programme building towards Carnival 2018."

Carnival planning for next year begins this week. If anyone would like to get involved please email Craig.Russell@Kendal-Torchlight-Carnival.co.uk.

Best Young Farmers: Grayrigg Young Farmers

Best School: Ghyllside School

Best Carnival: Fox and Meadow

Best Community: Dance Attik

Best Business / Commercial: Little Rascals

Best Music: Nelson Thomlinson Samba Band & Milnthorpe Steel Band

Runner Up: Vicarage Park School & Staveley Carnival

Best In Show: St Marks CE Primary School