Stowmarket Carnival 2021 cancelled with ‘deepest regret’

The organisers of Stowmarket Carnival have announced the cancellation of the 2021 festival.

In a post on its Facebook page the organisation said that a decision had been made after their AGM took place last night.

The post said that the event’s committee “cannot see any way” that the carnival, which costs around £15,000, can go ahead next year.

Issues with social gatherings, fundraising and organisation were listed as reason for the cancellation.

The post said: “The current committee are willing to stand again, but with the way things are going we really cannot see any way of the 2021 Carnival going ahead.

“We would love to say that it will go ahead, get to February and have to call it off but we have no way of fundraising.

“We even thought maybe to just get the parade organised, but again we may have to cancel due to crowds or too many people gathering, social distancing and there is so much time and effort put into the floats we just don’t want to waste people’s time or upset anyone.

“So with deepest regret we will not be putting 2021 carnival on.”

The event is still due to take place in 2022, depending on the progress of the coronavirus pandemic.