It is that time of year again, when the carnival comes to Tavistock.

Tavistock Carnival Week runs from Saturday, July 13 until Sunday, July 21.

The fun gets going this Saturday, July 13, with fringe festival TaviFringe offering everything from brass band music to energetic morris dancing, drumming and jazz.

There will be four outdoor ‘venues’ where you can catch the music as well as enjoy food and drink. These are the Guildhall Square car park, from 10am to 4pm; the Butchers Hall, from 9.30am to 3.30pm; the West Devon Club Garden from 1pm until late; and ‘the BuskStop’ in the area around the pannier market from 10am to 2.30pm.

Full details can be found at on the TaviFringe website here.

Acts include Taiko Drummers, the Tavy Tars, the Big Jazz Choir, the Stannary Brass Band, chamber choir Levowan XII, the Wheelhouse Folk Choir and the Sydenham Damerel Blowers. Music in the West Devon Club Garden on Saturday night includes Lilypads and Feel Good Factory.

The week starts on Saturday, July 13, with the TaviFringe Music Festival from 10am throughout the town.

Other highlights include a fun day in the Meadows on Sunday, July 14, with a dog show, stalls and children’s entertainment and a canal duck race staged by St Peter’s Junior School.

As in previous years, there will be a pavement artists’ competition in Brook Street at 6pm on Tuesday, July 16. This is followed on the Wednesday (July 17) with a carnival concert by the town’s Stannary Brass Band in St Eustachius’ Church.

Tavistock Athletic Club will stage its Town Relay Races in the Meadows on the Thursday evening (July 18) and there will be a 5k Carnival Fun Run on Saturday, July 20 on the Tavistock College track.

The fun continues on Saturday and Sunday, July 20 and 21, with a funfair and refreshments stands and music from the Cornish Groove Collective in the Guildhall car park from 4pm to 6pm on the Saturday, while on Sunday (July 21), the Stannary Brass Band will play from 2pm to 4pm.

This is followed by the grand finale of the week, when grand procession which marks the finale of Tavistock Carnival Week takes place on the afternoon of July 21, when locals in costume on foot and on floats make their colourful way through the town.

This year’s theme is Let’s Get Animated – leaving it up to entrants’ imagination how they interpret this – and organisers Tavistock Lions Club hope that entries will be as lively and loud as possible, with musical instruments encouraged.

The procession of floats and walking entries will gather at the earlier time of 4pm in Down Road before making its way along the familiar route through the town centre.

The full programme for Tavistock Carnival Week 2024 can be found on the Tavistock Lions’ Club website here.