Outdoor arts festival celebrates 50th anniversary

An arts festival which includes street theatre, circus acts, music and dance is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

Winchester Hat Fair takes place in the city centre and runs from Friday until Sunday.

The festival attracts thousands of visitors, as well as national and international acts.

Arts charity, Play to the Crowd, runs the event, using investment from Arts Council England, Winchester City Council, Without Walls and support from local businesses and the community.

The festival will begin with a carnival, which will see school children and community groups parading through the streets in colourful costumes inspired by the theme "Look Back, Look Forwards, Look Up".

Community choirs and dancers will also congregate outside Winchester Cathedral for an opening ceremony on Friday evening.

Hat Fair director, Andrew Loretto, said: "For the start of Hat Fair's 50th birthday year, we are proud to be showcasing a wide range of community participants at the heart of the festival alongside national and international visiting artists."

The Hat Fair began in 1974 and is named after the tradition of a hatter or performer holding out a hat following their performance to collect donations from the audience.

Mr Loretto added: "The funding climate for Hat Fair, and much cultural work across England, remains very challenging, but we are determined to stage a festival that embraces diversity, joy, community and performance in the very special streets, parks and spaces of Winchester city centre.

"Hat Fair embraces the unusual, the quirky, the challenging and the humorous, bringing thousands of people of all ages and backgrounds together for a very special and unique event in the UK's cultural calendar."

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