Kent Equality Cohesion Council was proud to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Dartford Festival of Light on Friday October 19th. Around 1500 people participated in the community festival which celebrates the values of respect, excellence, friendship and equality. Working in partnership with Dartford Borough Council and Cohesion Plus, the event proved to be as popular as ever and was a great showcase of the fantastic artwork which young people from 8 local schools had created working with Same Sky.

The festival included performances on One Bell Corner by the Folk in Fusion Drumming Collective, Bloco Fogo Samba and the Stilt Batteristas. They were joined by Hilary the Triceratops who roamed the High Street interacting with members of the public. There was then a lantern parade featuring local schools which was led by the Mayor of Dartford Cllr David Mote, Leader of Dartford Borough Council Cllr Jeremy Kite MBE and Lak Heer from the Bostall Group who was the event sponsor. The parade went from the High Street via Suffolk Road into the Orchards Shopping Centre, left out towards Holy Trinity Church before climaxing in Central Park. The entrance in Central Park was especially lit up for the occasions with lanterns as was the area around the Band Stand.

The celebrations climaxed with a presentation to local schools to commemorate the 10th Anniversary of the Festival and a colourful fireworks display.

Gurvinder Sandher, the CEO of Kent Equality Cohesion Council commented “I am very proud of what we have achieved with the Dartford Festival of Light. The whole ethos of the event is to bring communities together and celebrate our shared values and is an event that the community of Dartford should be proud of. I hope that we can continue to evolve the festival and get more and more people involved.”