Welcome to the Somerset Carnivals website.

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The Somerset Carnivals are highly regarded as the largest illuminated procession in the world. They occur late on in the year at various locations including: Bridgwater, Burnham-on-Sea, Chard, Ilminster, Glastonbury, North Petherton, Shepton Mallet, Taunton, Wellington, Wells, Weston-Super-Mare, and Yeovil.

The carnivals in Somerset date back more than 400 years, and are one of the most spectacular events in Somerset today. In some of the bigger locations (such as Bridgwater), you can expect to see crowds of up to 150,000.

The carnival carts are designed and built by dedicated carnival clubs around the West Country. These carnival clubs have many members who raise money throughout the year, and work relentlessly to achieve the spectacular carnival entries. The carts take part in the carnival parade along with many other entries; these range from clowns dancing in the streets to 100ft illuminated carts (some with up to 30,000 light bulbs) pulled by tractors.

There are many prizes to be won at the carnival processions, and judges along the route rate the carts in various categories.

The carnival procession runs along the Wessex Grand Prix circuit, the South Somerset Federation Carnivals circuit, and ends on the Somerset County Guy Fawkes Carnival Association circuit.

You'll be able to bring the illuminated somerset carnivals back to life whenever you want as we've got over eight thousand photographs, almost two thousand movies, and a few streams on carnival radio. There's more than 200 carnival clubs featured throughout this site.