There is so much to tell you about Ryde Carnival 2022! First of all I’d like to thank RBA for giving me and Ryde Carnival Association the opportunity to take over the RBA newsletter. We’ve chosen our carnival royalty, we’re booking the bands and your favourite performers. We can’t wait to bring the carnival to back Ryde this year.
We’d also like to invite you for a drink, but more on that later!
Key information for your diaries:
Ryde Carnival Week is Saturday 27 August to Saturday 3 September
27 August – Children’s Carnival Day
1 September – Main Procession
3 September – Illuminated Procession
A change
We have decided on a Children’s Carnival Day this year on the 27 August. This will take place mainly in the pedestrianised part of town – Co-Op Square, Minghella Square and Town Square as well as St Thomas Church Gardens. The day will include:
- Ryde Carnival royalty float
- Children’s costume competition
- Children’s parade through the town
- Storytime with Ryde Library Friends of Ryde Library
- Dance performance by Ella Sheppard School of Dance
- Picnic lunch with the animals from Shademakers UK
- Magic and fun with Huxley
We hope that by hosting the day in the High Street area we will be able to bring more people into town, especially over the bank holiday weekend when many may stay on the beach.
Waving the Flag
We are currently working with Ryde Arts, The New Carnival Company and Shademakers on projects to increase participation in the carnival with costume making workshops, to increase volunteers to help support Ryde Carnival Association and to help our finances get on a more stable footing. The project is called Waving the Flag.
Costs and business support
It costs us £14,000 to put the carnival on each year and we are a very small team of volunteers. We have been given £9000 by Ryde Town Council for which we are very grateful, but we need to raise the rest ourselves. We would like to ask you and the business community of Ryde to really get behind the carnival so we can come back with a bang in 2022. The carnival brings around 20,000 people into the town centre and surrounding streets and we appreciate every piece of support you can give us.
There are many ways you and your business can support the UK’s oldest carnival:
- Become a Ryde Carnival sponsor. We have sponsorship packages available with a full list of business benefits. Please see attachment.
- Advertise in our programme. Our popular programme will be produced again this year with plenty of space for your advertisement.
- Become a volunteer (anything from shaking a bucket on carnival night to some pre-carnival admin)
- Create a Carnival themed shop window – we’d LOVE to see more carnival themed window displays
- Take part in window spotting – of course!
- Engage with our posts on Facebook and Instagram
- Create a Carnival themed offer or special product for Carnival week
- Tell your customers that it’s carnival week on social media/e-newsletters
- Sell the programme or host a collection tin in your shop
- Putting an entry in the carnival
- Provide a prize
- Hold a fundraising event at your business
We know times are tough and it’s been a very long couple of years. Although we need to raise financial support, we really want to collaborate with local organisations where we can. We have been building up our social media pages and we send a regular e-newsletter out to help publicise the carnival and our supporters.
Working together
As an example of collaborative working we are leading a walk for the Isle of Wight Walking Festival tomorrow Wednesday 11 May. It’s called ‘Discover Ryde’s summer carnival – in spring’ and you can get more info and book on this page. We’re thrilled that Historic Ryde Society are partnering with us and we’re going to be having a drink in The Star and Bar 74 on the walk. The walk has already attracted additional national publicity via Visit Isle of Wight who are organising the walking festival. Working together helps our carnival, other local organisations and businesses and helps raise the profile of the town.
Drinks at Ryde Library on Wednesday 25 May
We’d love to say hello to you all before the summer season madness takes over.
Please join us for a glass of wine and a chat on the 25 May. Catch up with the Ryde Carnival Association team and the Waving the Flag project team and find out more about our plans for 2022. I’ll be saying a few words at around 6 pm.
Details:
Wednesday 25 May, 5.30 pm to 7.00 pm
Ryde Library, George Street, PO33 2JE.
Please RSVP to rydecarnival@talktalk.net if you can come along.
Please get in touch with us if you would like more information, or you have ideas about how to make Ryde Carnival 2022 flourish. We would love to hear from you and our email address is rydecarnival@talktalk.net.
All the very best and I look forward to meeting you on the 25 May.
Jo Morrison,
Chairperson, Ryde Carnival Association
