By Helen ffitch
The Cirque du Swanage came to town with a colourful parade of floats and marching bands processing through the streets during the opening weekend of the Swanage Carnival, an annual event in Dorset.
The eight days of displays, competitions, fireworks, live music, food and drink from Saturday 26th July to Saturday 2nd August 2025, started with a spectacular show from the Red Arrows but there’s been plenty more happening since.
The fire engine pull took place along Shore Road
And the winners were The Truckers!
Show of strength by pulling a fire engine
On Saturday 26th July 2025 following the RAF aerobatic team, there were performances from the Steamship Circus and the Black Eagles Acrobats in the Sandpit Field arena, as well as the fire engine pull along Shore Road where teams display how quickly they can pull the weight of a fire engine.
There was also the Global Stars Air Show where the planes performed aerobatic manoeuvres over Swanage Bay to the delight of the crowds watching from the seafront.
In the evening, the first of the three firework displays took place and the live music by Jess Upton and the Guilty Pleasures, followed by Jai Amore and the Tribe continued into the night.
Live music during the day and into the night
Please don’t feed the seagulls!
Vibrant circus theme
On Sunday 27th July 2025, the day started with Carnival Praises, a church service in the marquee to celebrate the start of the carnival, followed by a change in tempo when The Giant Seagulls – a roving comedy act – went out and about in search of tasty morsels and mischief!
Of course the main afternoon treat was the Carnival Procession through the streets of Swanage, which embraced the vibrant circus theme with strongmen, acrobats and, of course, clowns!
The procession saw the circus theme Cirque du Swanage embraced by many
An impressive effort!
Clowns will be, well, clowns!
“It’s a bit of a jigsaw”
Masterminding the event is the secretary of Swanage Carnival Kevin Langdon who plans the eight days, along with the carnival committee, to ensure everyone stays safe and things happen as intended.
This major undertaking is all done on a voluntary basis and starts pretty much as soon as the last carnival finishes. Kevin said:
“We start with some ideas in our heads and then shape the programme around them. Every year we apply to get the Red Arrows and then just before Christmas last year we found out we’d got them, so we built the rest of the entertainment around that. It’s a bit of a jigsaw puzzle as we work out each day’s schedule.
“Of course the first weekend is always special and with the Red Arrows this year, it was phenomenal but it takes a lot of planning. There’s the logistics, safety issues and risk assessments to be worked out, not to mention moving boats in the bay, so they’re not under the path of the air displays.
“We are a totally voluntary organisation, so we raise the funds to put on the carnival through sponsorship, fundraising events earlier in the year, and some very generous donations.
“All the profits go straight back into the community – last year we gave away more than £30,000 to local charities and good causes – there’s no commercial events company trying to take a cut.
“We’ve been asked quite a bit this week, why the Red Arrows can come to Swanage but not Bournemouth.
“We’re totally not for profit, we don’t get council subsidies, we all just do it for the good of our town. That’s probably something for people in Bournemouth to think about.”
Swanage RNLI is celebrating its 150th anniversary in 2025
Swanage Fire Station takes a break from fighting fires
Swanage Coastguard joins in the procession
Anonymous benefactor
The cost of the Red Arrows display in Swanage was completely covered by a private anonymous benefactor, who did it to support the town.
Not only does it create a happy buzz around Swanage but along with the whole programme of events it also brings in vital income to all the accommodation providers, cafes, restaurants, pubs and shops by filling the town with visitors.
Swanage Town Council also benefits from income which it gets from its fully booked beach huts and its busy car parks including the overflow parking facility at King George playing fields.
And there’s still more events to come with the wheelbarrow race on Friday, followed by the Savage Skills BMX bike display and Titan the Robot on Saturday.
Of course the week ends with a bang when the final firework display takes place on Saturday evening along with music from Fluke and Wild Boyz.
The Brentwood Imperial Youth Band from Essex
Maypole madness!
Amazing outfits outside Fun World
Next year
So what’s planned for 2026? Kevin said:
“It’s going to be bigger and better!”
Well this year will be hard to top, but the Red Arrows seemed very happy to be in Swanage. Kevin confided that the team’s manager, Squadron Leader Graham Muscatt, also known as Red 10 appeared to love the place and went away with a very good impression of Swanage and its bay.
Hopefully he and his team will be back!
Secretary of Swanage Carnival Kevin Langdon (centre) with some cheeky birds!
