Sun draws in the crowds to park festival (From Wiltshire Times)

Sun draws in the crowds to park festival

2:05pm Tuesday 18th July 2006 in Trowbridge By Morwenna Blake

THOUSANDS of people turned out to Trowbridge Park at the weekend for sun, sand and entertainment.

This year was the first to combine the annual beach party and Spotlight on Trowbridge in the newly named Community Spotlight event, and it proved to be a huge hit. Organiser Steve Nash said: "It was really fantastic. The town council wanted to reduce the number of events put on each year and to make the ones we do hold even bigger and better and I think that worked really well."

Children played with buckets and spades in the specially created beach, with plenty of stalls and rides to chose from for more entertainment. There were fairground rides, teacups for smaller children, bouncy castles, raffles and games.

Local groups got the chance to show and tell people about the work they do with stallholders including the RNLI, Group 5, Bath Cancer Support Unit, the Vine Project and Traidcraft. There were plenty of refreshments to choose from with the usual burgers, hog roast and candyfloss as well as more exotic cuisines from Thailand, Morocco, the Caribbean and Germany.

Live music set the party atmosphere with performances from bands including Les Onions, the O'Reelys and Mexteca. There were activities for children throughout the two days of the show, from pottery painting to sports.

On Saturday evening, young and old took part in a sizzling samba carnival, with music, bright costumes and fun bringing alive a Rio de Janeiro party spirit.

• For more pictures see this Friday's Wiltshire Times