Whitstable Carnival returns Saturday August 2nd 2025 in a tribute to our local hero, the legendary Peter Cushing
Whitstable Carnival Association is pleased to announce that the town’s 128th anniversary Carnival will take place, as it traditionally does, on the first Saturday in August 2025, which this year is August 2nd.
Enter the Parade here!
Fill out and return these two forms to be part of our lovely Carnival
get in touch if you have any further questions about entering the Carnival!
Join in the fun
We need volunteers: without you we cannot make this happen. Any time you can spare will help and there are so many ways to get involved. We’d love to have you on board!
Attend one of our events, become a member, volunteer your time to help:
Stewarding the carnival, standing at junctions on route, supervising the parade coming through
Help with setting up/striking down
Wearing a big head or fish in the parade
Join our committees/ plan our events
Have a float in the Carnival
Latest News
We are going to be holding our Annual Poster Competition soon. Stay tuned and check back here or on our social media platforms for more information!
Posters from Carnival 2024
Follow us to get the latest!
Be a Hero Sponsor
We need your help business persons
The Whitstable Carnival Association is a non-profit and we need some cash to carry on our work in the community.
- Enter a float
- Sponsor a float
- Buy an ad
- We take cash, and cheques too
Our Programme
A great way to help is to buy an ad in our free Carnival Programme.
Dozens of our famous programmes are published and freely distributed every year.
Get in touch if you are interested in advertising in the Carnival Programme
Schools Poster Competition
Show us your best Peter Cushing
We are excited to announce that the 2025 Whitstable Carnival theme is Peter Cushing.
We would like to invite your students to design a poster which could be a portrait, or caricature of his face. It can be colour, black and white or a collage in any medium they choose on A4.
All the entries will be printed in our programme with a prize for the winner!
We need to receive these entries in both pdf and jpeg form by the
first week of June.
Please make sure name and class are legible and send it to whitcarnival@gmail.com
Get in touch if you have any questions about this great competition !
On the day
Timings for the Procession
The procession moves off at 5.30, travelling along Tankerton Road, Tower Parade, Harbour Street, High Street, Oxford Street and Canterbury Road to Saddleton Road, where we will disperse. This usually takes around two hours and there will be road closures on all adjoining roads.
For those who are in the Procession, please assemble along Pier Avenue and Northwood Road from 1pm.
If you are planning to travel to Whitstable at this time, please note that there will be major road closures in the Parade area. Be patient, choose another route, travel early or delay your journey till it’s over. Better yet, park up and join in the fun!
Carnival Ethos
The purpose of Carnival is to bring the community together and to raise funds for various local charities. Carnival welcomes everyone and makes no distinctions based on class or race or age or sex. All you need to take part is a sense of fun. Carnival is play. It is frivolity. It is fantasy. It is a joyous expression of who we are as a community. It is an opportunity to show your wares, whether as a business or a charity or as a community organisation. It is about showing off. Show us who you are. Tell us what you are proud of. Make yourselves known. Be as bold as you like. Be as silly as you like. Be funny. Be friendly. Be kind. Be generous. Be a part of your community.
Sam the Giant
Meet the famous Whitstable Giant one of ten original giants created by Strange Cargo years ago. Sam is only one of two left from the original family.
