1. Distance wise the procession route is just over 7 miles long, and the carnival will take more than 2 hours to pass any one viewing point.
2. Over 600,000 individual lights will illuminate the skyline as the carts meander around the streets of Bridgwater.
3. 13 Megawatts of electricity will power the 50 carnival carts taking part in this year’s carnival procession.
4. Over 2,000 people are involved with the 125 entries in this year’s event.
5. 1550 traffic cones, 300 road traffic signs, 600 crowd control barriers, 40 road closures facilitating 31 closed roads, will be set out by 8 members of the carnival committee’s road traffic team in readiness for the 2015 carnival. The first are laid at 06:30 hours on carnival day, and the last collected at 04:00 hours the following morning. We will have 60 marshals manning road closure points and involved with traffic duties during the event.
6. 450 collectors will be on the streets on carnival night shaking their 600 collection buckets for 25 different charities and are expected to collect over 500,000
7. This year Bridgwater Guy Fawkes Carnival has 77 friends of carnival (formerly patrons). For more information visit bridgwatercarnival.org.uk/associates/friends.
8. All of the 2,250 grandstand seats were sold 3 weeks prior to the big day.
9. 47 trade stands will line the procession route on carnival night.
10. 180 people are expected to take part in the squibbing display, 15 minutes after the procession has finished. The squibs are 300mm long by 200mm in circumference and hold approximately 1lb of gunpowder
11. 37 cups and trophies are awarded on carnival night by our 76 judges. Before the results are announced on the evening, 4,802 separate judging scores will need to be entered onto laptops to ascertain which entries came where.
12. 70 coaches / minibuses will be attending Bridgwater Carnival 2015. This compares to the 52 coaches / minibuses who pre-booked for Bridgwater Carnival 2014.
13. 50,000 publicity flyers have been sent to motorway service stations, event attractions and tourist information centres throughout the country.
14. 3,173 people like the official Bridgwater Guy Fawkes Carnival Facebook page.
15. 3,344 people follow Bridgwater Carnival’s official Twitter account.
16. In the last 12 months, our official website (bridgwatercarnival.org.uk), has received 142,169 hits, including 1,313 from computer users living in America, 217 from Canada, 205 from Australia and 199 from India.
17. 36 companies and organisations are official sponsors of Bridgwater Carnival 2015.
18. 900 low energy bulbs light Bridgwater Carnival’s official Guy Fawkes cart which traditionally leads the procession.
19. 2015 is the 410^th anniversary of The Gunpowder Plot.
20. This year 19 local schools are taking part in initiatives organised by Bridgwater Guy Fawkes Carnival Committee, all designed to engage younger people with carnival related activities. Over 150 children are taking part in the children’s dance parade on carnival day which has been choreographed by Robert Blake Science College’s Claire Stokes, and 25 decorated carnival masks in and around the town centre have been decorated by these schools.
21. In the last 5 years Bridgwater Carnival related activities have raised £110,000 for the official Bridgwater Guy Fawkes Carnival charity and other local supported charities.
22. 1,200 forms containing information and instructions have been sent to the 125 entries taking part in Bridgwater Carnival 2015.
23. Bridgwater Guy Fawkes Carnival Committee has 84 members.
24. For the 2015 Bridgwater Carnival celebrations, Bridgwater based Somerset Willow Company have made 2 large Guy Fawkes effigies made from willow. The first will be ceremoniously lit at the start of the grand firework display on Friday 6 November by the president of Bridgwater Guy Fawkes Carnival, Rita Jones, and the second willow effigy will lead the illuminated procession. Each effigy stands 14ft tall, contains 11,556 strands of willow and took 2½ weeks to weave.
25. 2015 sees the 10^th anniversary of the formal unveiling of the carnival squibber statue in the centre of Bridgwater.