The 2011 King Street Mardi Gras took place on Tuesday 8th March from 4-6.00 pm. The event  featured entertainment, food and customs with an international theme, both in the street and inside the event’s tented area on King Street.  This is the second Mardi Gras event to be held on King Street: the weather was much kinder than in 2010 and there was a good crowd.  The event is organised by SeaChange Arts to celebrate the international festival that is Mardi Gras, Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day .

The theme this year drew heavily on the notion of spring versus winter –  represented throughout the event in the form of ‘Fatso’ and ‘Hempen’ – two characters from the Lithuanian culture who do battle to signify the changing of the seasons. “We introduced Fatso and Hempen at last year’s event,” explained SeaChange’s Chief Executive, Joe Mackintosh, “This year, we’re developing their role and they will be central to the afternoon’s activities.”

The roles of Fatso and Hempen were filled this year by performers from Générik Vapeur, a French street arts company who SeaChange Arts work closely with as part of a European partnership, called ZEPA. The partnership enabled SeaChange to bring the full Générik Vapeur Company to Yarmouth last year to showcase their legendary street show Bivouac as part of the Out There festival.

The Mardi Gras event is designed to bring communities and businesses from around the King Street area to work together. The area is earmarked as a new cultural quarter for the town, focused around the £8m redevelopment of St Georges Chapel into a multipurpose Arts Centre.

For further information on the event visit www.seachangearts.org.uk 

(Information provided by SeaChange Arts)

Great Yarmouth’s first Mardi Gras carnival is going to take place in King Street on Tuesday 16th February, starting at 3.30 p.m.  The area between St. George’s Chapel and York Street will be packed with street bands, dance groups, cabaret, traditional games and cooking.  Along with street walkabout acts, there will be a traditional English pancake race as well as a traditional Lithuanian wrestling match – where a fat man fights with a thin one to represent the passage of the seasons.  Drop in workshops from 3.30 p.m. include mask-making, dance and drumming.  From 5.40 p.m. to 6.10 p.m. there will be a small fire show on Unicycles outside St. George’s Theatre amongst other finale wonders and from 6.30 – 8.30 pm the Kings Wine Bar are hosting a Cabaret Night.

Jankie D is delivering a workshop on the 6th February at Martham Sure Start Centre from 10.00-16.00hrs for those who want to get ahead of the game by creating their own carnival heads, wavers, banners, shakers and masks.

The Mardi Gras carnival is organised by SeaChange Arts. For more information go to www.seachangearts.org.uk