Whitley Bay Carnival History

Whitley Bay Carnival
21st century history

Begun following a Big Local community consultation, which showed the desire to see a revived carnival in Whitley Bay.

In 2014 a tiny carnival parade and afternoon of live music and street theatre on the Spanish City prom with an exhibition in the dome just before it closed for refurbishment. Two schools and around 250 participants, were led by a local school crossings lady. The parade took place on pedestrian roads and the prom with no road closure but over 2,000 audience in effect closed the sea front.

From 2015 – 2018 the carnival had between £8,000 and £15,000 a year support from Whitley Bay Big Local allowing us to go for grants and local business sponsorship

2018 – 2021 Creative Civic Change programme included support for the annual carnival and by 2019 the event was well established as a 2 day event.
Lockdown carnival in 2020 went on line and into streets and gardens with Creative Civic change funding only and in 2021 a September parade only event took place as the second lock down ended.

2022 saw a one day event with a parade and street events with no infrastructure.

2023 and 2024 The North of Tyne Combined Authority scale up funds and match from Arts Council England project grants allowed for a two-day event with record attendance and community engagement.

This May 24th and 25th, 2025, we hope to be inviting Whitley Bay to join us on a cornucopia of journeys for the 12th Whitley Bay Carnival

Again we are starting from scratch to raise the matched funds we need to be able to apply for grants at the level we need to make it all happen

Tyne Tees Entertainments, The Whitley Whaler, Di-Meo's, and Big Purple Box Creative have pledged support but we have a long way to go. You can help by donating whatever you can afford, every single £1 makes a difference - it doesn’t have to be much. You can also help by sharing the funding link in your networks.

SUPPORT WHITLEY BAY CARNIVAL

Since 2015 local businesses have been the backbone of the carnival helping to reach the necessary match for grant applications. Some have dropped in and out but Di-meo’s, TJ’s American Pastimes, The Whitley Whaler and Big Purple Box Creative have been with us from the start and we thank them for their support.

We hope new stalwarts Tyne Tees Entertainments, Fisherman’s Bay, Pure Knead, Scoops, The Whitley Bay Round Table will stick with us for 2025 and we are hoping that Pantrinis and The Venetian will come back! All of their support has been so important.