EDWARDIAN Evening – Okehampton’s flagship Christmas shopping event – is set to be extra special this year, with more stalls than ever before and a programme of entertainment in the centre of town.

Taking place next Thursday evening, November 30, it is being organised by Everything Okehampton, which stages community events in the town, together with Miss Ivy Events, who are well-known for putting on events with street food, stalls and live music locally.

The town centre will be packed with street food stalls and gifts to enjoy while soaking up the atmosphere. The evening gets going with the switching on of the Christmas lights at 6pm and the singing of the mayor’s carols in front of St James Chapel in Fore Street.

Music and dancing is very much the order of the day, with musical vintage tunes by Terrie-May MacNulty in front of the church from 6.30pm to 8pm.

At 7.15pm, the In-Motion dance group joins in with dance performances in front of the church while at 6.30m and 8.10pm Alison Moyna will perform festive tunes in the Red Lion Yard. Meanwhile, from 7.45pm to 8.05pm the Okehampton Voices will join in with festive tunes in the Red Lion Yard and from 7.15 to 7.45pm the Wren Music Street Band will also give a performance, with an interactive drumming session, in the Red Lion Yard.

For youngsters the Museum of Dartmoor Life will be offering the chance to meet Father Christmas. There will be a children’s carousel and rides, for a small charge, and there will even be a festive stilt walker!

Christine Marsh, from Everything Okehampton said: “We have got a lot more stalls and a lot more entertainment. It is a bigger event and now we have had the second anniversary of the railway coming back to the town, people will hopefully come down from Exeter or even from Crediton to spend the evening here. It is really to encourage people to favour Okehampton,.”

She added: “We have got a lot of street food as well as craft stalls and all the rest of it and I’m hoping everyone enjoys it

“The carols are at 6 o’clock this year instead of 7 o’clock because the mayors are visiting from their places and that means they can come for the carols and then go and do whatever they want to do. Having them at the beginning of the evening means that everyone has more time to go and do whatever they want to do.”