Preparations are underway for the third Dartford Festival of Light which will take place on Friday October 21 through Dartford Town Centre between 6.30pm and 7.30pm. The parade will involve 10 schools from Dartford who will be working with renowned arts company Samesky in the build up to the event. In total over 500 young pupils will benefit from arts workshops. The children will make lanterns and torches which they will carry in the parade.

The Festival of Light has been organised by local arts organisation Cohesion Plus in partnership with Kent Equality Cohesion Council with the support of Dartford Borough Council and Kent County Council. The parade will start just on the green outside Central Library, will turn right towards the High Street, going past the Paper Moon Public House, and will then continue along the High Street. The parade will turn left at One Bell Corner and then head back towards the Bandstand in Central Park where the festival will climax with performances by Bloco Fogo Samba and Cultural Beats.

The aim of the Festival of Light is to bring the communities of Dartford together through the arts, and has been inspired by the Cultural Olympiad which promotes the Olympic values of excellence, respect and friendship and the Paralympics values of empower, achieve and inspire.

According to Gurvinder Sandher the Director of the Kent Equality Cohesion Council who is co-ordinating the event “I am very much looking forward to the event this Friday. The schools have been working very hard in the build-up to the Festival. The parade through Dartford Town Centre is always colourful and the climax of the parade at the Bandstand in Dartford is very spectacular. Events like this underline the positive community relations that we enjoy in the borough and I hope that the community will come out and support this fantastic community event.”