Well, Well! Thornton Heath was buzzing today as locals stopped to read banners, posters and flyers promoting this year’s Thornton Heath Festival which will take place on Sunday, 4 September. The event will be held on Thornton Heath High Street. It will start at noon and run throughout the afternoon, finishing at 6pm. The street will be closed to traffic.
Organisers have lined up some great artists for the live stage performances. Festival Vice Chairman, Councillor Callton Young OBE, said “last year’s festival was great but this year’s will be fantastic! There will be a distinct Soca vibe with Soca champions like Triniboi Joocie and One The Band, performing live – plus Notting Hill favourites Flagz Mas Band showing us how Soca is danced professionally and getting the crowd involved.” Councillor Pat Clouder, who has been working with the Festival for ten years now, said “the event is a great way of bringing the community together.”
Flagz Mas Band, some of whose members feature at the top of the flyer above, will need no introduction to Thornton Heath Festival goers. They have joined us for the last two years. Triniboi Joocie features at the bottom of the flyer in a shot taken at last year’s Festival. The faces in the crowd tells the story of his massive impact! Follow this link to get a flavour of this UK Soca talent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNpU9lFbmSI).
If having a UK Soca King at the Festival is not enough reggae King, Dani-i, will also be performing this year (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYNt6JM_0JE). Love it!
There will be plenty of other local reggae stars too like Kimberley SK (opposite), Suzie Jay and Tonica Howe.
We will also have up and coming Hip Hop artist GTsolo in our line up. Incidentally, he was raised in Thornton Heath and remains Croydon based.
It is great to see how much home grown talent is coming out of the Heath at the moment, what with Krept and Konan and Stormzy!
Watch out for GTsolo’s progress. Come to the Festival and, when he has gone global, you will be able to say you remember seeing him perform in your own backyard! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DryzFvueyA0)
We have a class act of dancers lined up too! Festival favorites, Tamil Cultural Dancers, will be back to share their traditional South Asia moves (See photo right).
In addition there will also be modern, street, belly, salsa and other forms of dance. Remember Chantel of Hipsinc!
There will be a mass dance too, to encourage everyone to ‘throw shapes’. Check out the youngsters below! Come prepared!
Mass dance: Watch me Whip, Watch me Nae Nae
No Thornton Heath Festival would be complete without a carnival parade with processional pieces and carnival flair!
This year is no different. The parade will start at 3pm.
It will include pieces made with tender loving care by local schools and organised by local artist Karen Barnett. Also costumes made to a professional standard for the Notting Hill Carnival by Flagz Mas Band. Why not get involved in Thornton Heath’s Festival by helping to carry a processional piece in this year’s parade? Just come along and ask! You can join in with the soca dancers too.
Most of all, do enjoy what has always proved to be a great family day out. Whether it is browsing the many stalls at the Festival, enjoying the variety of food on sale, the funfair, the stage acts, the carnival, the friendly atmosphere or just blowing bubbles, Thornton Heath Festival 2016 is a must keep date. So see you there!
