COSTUMES, colour and calypso will bring a flavour of the Caribbean to the 16th annual Scarborough Seafest.

A pop-up carnival, which is an offshoot of Leeds West Indian Carnival, Europe’s longest running authentic Caribbean carnival, has been announced as one of the highlights of this year’s event.

Seafest is a three-day festival on Scarborough’s seafront, from Friday, 25 to Sunday, July 27, this year featuring a host of new street theatre, music and food events.

A total of 30 special costumes have been designed by a unique collaboration of some of the UK’s most renowned carnival costume designers who are also based in Leeds.

The city's West Indian Carnival was founded in 1967 by Arthur France, MBE, as a remedy for homesickness for his native St Kitts & Nevis. The main carnival is held in Leeds every August Bank Holiday, with last year’s parade attracting record crowds of over 150,000.

Arthur said: “We are delighted that the pop-up carnival will showcase Yorkshire as Europe’s first Caribbean Carnival comes to Scarborough Seafest.

"This is an amazing opportunity for Leeds Carnival to bring wow factor and a touch of the Caribbean to what is already a beautiful part of our county. With the sea as a backdrop we’re looking forward to a spectacular display of costumes, colour and calypso.”

Janet Deacon, North Yorkshire Area Director for Welcome to Yorkshire, said: “We promised that this year’s Seafest would be bigger and better than ever, and the addition of the Pop-up Carnival to the programme is really exciting – it’s something that’s never been seen in Scarborough before.”

Other street theatre highlights of Seafest 2014, which are being co-ordinated by Scarborough’s arts and cultural development agency, Create, with funding from Arts Council England, include Circo Rum Ba Ba, the Institute of Crazy Dancing, Whitby-based Jean and Morag, and Scarborough-based Animated Objects;

There’ll be music from the Paradise Steel Band, the Men of Staithes Choir, and Scarborough’s Fun Key Choir, and food demos from a line-up of top chefs.

Also planned is a real ale tent, a gospel breakfast with DJ Tooley, morris dancing, stalls from local organisations, a grand fireworks display, and for the children, sea-themed workshops, story-telling sessions and rock pool rambles. As ever, the event will also include a blessing of the boats at the Seafest Sunday service.

For further information on Seafest visit
http://www.discoveryorkshirecoast.com/scarborough/whats-on-events/scarborough-seafest.aspx