WALLINGFORD Carnival is the town’s longest running event, so when this year's procession was cancelled over coronavirus, people simply moved the festival of fun to their driveways and front windows.

Households, shops, local organisations and businesses held a ‘Wallingford Carnival at Home’ on Saturday, June 20, by decorating their front garden or window.

This year’s theme was cartoon carnival and the town was covered in wacky designs from Finding Nemo, the Flintstones and the Simpsons.

Oxford Mail:

Businesses, schools, and clubs all worked hard to make their window or driveway stand out among the 60 carnival entries.

Instead of a procession of floats, families followed a walking map of the houses and businesses decorated with vibrant cartoon designs.

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Laura Lee, Wallingford Carnival chairman said: “I felt very emotional walking around our beautiful town seeing so many families walking around in the sunshine enjoying some incredible garden and window displays.

“Times have been hard on everyone these last few months and seeing people going to a tremendous amount of effort to keep community spirit alive was just lovely to see.

“School’s had spent some time with their ‘bubbles’ of children decorating fences and windows.

“Businesses, although unable to open, wanted to take part. I just think it was a fantastic day and so pleased that everyone enjoyed it.”

Oxford Mail:

The carnival even had actor Shane Richie as the celebrity judge. He chose the top decorated gardens and windows from photos and announced the winners the day after the carnival.

The committee were also reporting back the finer details of people's displays to Mr Richie so he could get the best picture.

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The winners of the carnival were revealed in categories and awarded prizes, certificates, and rosettes with help from Wallingford Waitrose.

From the household category in first place was the Flintstones on St John's Road, in second place was Finding Nemo on Brookmead Drive and in third was Peter Rabbit on Barley Close.

Oxford Mail:

The Dolphin Pub won from the shops and businesses category and for schools and organisations 2nd Wallingford Brownies came in first place and 2nd Wallingford Scouts in second place.

The best decorated street in Wallingford went to Springdale with their Springfield themed road. Springdale had cardboard cut outs of the whole Simpson family including extras from the show such as Sideshow Bob.

Wallingford Carnival will be back next year in June for a live carnival procession as well as the window and garden competition because of its overwhelming popularity.