A jolly good time had by all at event

With final numbers still to be tallied, organisers believe there were more people at the Balingup Medieval Carnivale during the weekend than last year.

The two-day carnivale featured live music, roving entertainment, multiple stalls, children’s activities, the grand parade and the ever-popular burning of the dragon.

Event public relations manager Carolyn Austin said “great weather” and raising the free entry for children up to 16 helped with the increased visitor numbers.

“From everything we’ve been hearing, the traders were happy with how much they sold,” she said.

There were about 120 stallholders at the event and Ms Austin said a lot of people had applied for stall space.

She said popular attractions at this year’s event included the burning of the dragon.

“The dragon burning had a new design and it looked really good,” she said.

“It was preceded by performances from Wasamba and also the Pyro Panthers, who did an amazing dance with fire.”

Ms Austin said the committee worked hard this year to make sure there was something for everyone at the carnivale, including more activities for children.

Children’s activities included the Top of the Stairs Puppet Show, an interactive, small animal display, camel rides and the Ladybird Bush-fairy Show.

“The Kirup Primary School P&C had a craft stall that was well-received, too,” Ms Austin said.

The two-day event takes about 2-3 days to set up at the carnivale grounds and a group of volunteers work year-round on Sundays to bring the event together.

“We had about 120 volunteers overall and every one of them chipped in, thank you to every single one of them,” Ms Austin said.