Visitors to Great Harwood this weekend will get the opportunity to enjoy a free ice rink, with the second of three exciting Christmas events taking place on Saturday.

Getting underway at 10 am on Towngate, there will be an action-packed day of activities alongside the ice rink, including a Christmas market, live music from local singer Maggy Conanan (10 am) and a Neil Diamond Tribute (1 pm), plus a special dance performance from the Helen Green Academy of Dance.

The Helen Green Academy of Dance, including their little reindeer dancers, have been invited back after their very popular performance at last Saturday’s Traditional Christmas food, shopping and music event in the town.

An extremely successful day on Towngate, local shopkeepers experienced an uplift in footfall, with people fully embracing the festivities.

Following this weekend’s event, the final Great Harwood Christmas Extravaganza will take place in the Mercer Hall area on Saturday 14th December (10 am-5:30 pm), which will be headlined by one of the biggest selling boybands of the 90s, East 17.

A Taylor Swift Tribute will also perform on the giant stage, alongside a full line-up of entertainment throughout the day.

A road closure on Queen Street will be in place on Saturday 14th December, which will also include funfair rides, a Santa’s Grotto, craft stalls, food stalls and much more. A wreath-making workshop taking place on the day has already sold out.

Councillor Kimberley Whitehead, Portfolio Holder for Culture, Heritage and Arts, said: “Christmas has well and truly arrived in Great Harwood, and we are so excited for the next event to take place this Saturday.

“It was incredible to see so many people out enjoying the festivities last weekend and we are expecting it to be even busier this weekend, with our ice rink an extremely popular attraction.

“We would recommend that everyone gets down early, for what will be another exciting day in Great Harwood.”

You can keep up to date on Hyndburn Borough Council’s events page here: www.hyndburnbc.gov.uk/events

These events are part of an exciting events programme delivered by Hyndburn Borough Council and funded by UK Government’s High Street Accelerator Pilot Programme.