Bradford’s petrifyingly popular Pumpkin Festival is back – and this year they have some weird and wonderful freaky friends waiting in the wings.
Image: Bradford BID
The annual Halloween highlight kicks off with the Pumpkin Trail, which runs from this Thursday to Saturday (27 to 29 October) and this year it has a musical theme to tie in with the city’s October is Music Month programme.
The expertly-carved characters will include some familiar famous musical faces, from Freddie Mercury to Bradford’s own super songstress, Kiki Dee, from ukulele legend George Formby to The Beatles, as well as a range of musical genres including reggae, bhangra, breakdancing and jazz!
The Pumpkin Festival is organised by Bradford Business Improvement District (BID), the limited company funded by more than 600 levy-paying businesses and organisations to help promote and develop the city centre.
The trail, which snakes around the city centre, can be downloaded from the BID’s LoyalFree app and pumpkin-hunters will have a chance to win a £100 Bradford City Centre Gift Card by voting for their favourite pumpkin scene.
As well as the Pumpkin Trail, there will also be the ever-popular carving workshop run by the experts from Sand In Your Eye, who will help youngsters create their own.
The workshop takes place from 11am to 3pm on Friday, 29 October, outside The Broadway shopping centre.
Bradford BID project officer Leanne Holmes said: “The city centre Pumpkin Trail is hugely popular and it provides a safe and secure way for families to celebrate Halloween together.
“The displays will again be produced by the brilliant creative arts organisation Sand In Your Eye.
“The Hebden Bridge-based group features artists from a variety of backgrounds who create amazing events and astonishing artwork by sculpting different materials in fun and creative ways.
“Spooky pumpkin carving is an integral part of Halloween and these highly-skilled sculptors take it to the next level and really help these creations come to life!”
The Halloween fun doesn’t end there, though, because Bradford BID has also organised some scary fun at The Leisure Exchange.
Those who are brave enough to head down there between 5pm and 8pm on Friday (28 October) will be met by some creepy Halloween characters who will be lurking round corners and loitering with intent to send a chill up your spines!
“These freaky fiends – including scary skulls, pumpkin-head stilts, a crazy circus and more – will definitely add a shiver or two to this annual scare-fest,” said Leanne.
“And if you’re quick enough, they might just make for some spooky selfies that your friends will be amazed by!”
As per historic accounts, Halloween dates back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain where people used to dress up in costumes and light bonfires to ward of ghosts. The Celts celebrate their new year a day after Halloween and believe that at the night before the new year, the boundary between the world of living and dead becomes blurred and ghosts of the dead return to earth, hence a custom to ward off ghosts.
Halloween is celebrated annually on 31 October.
