The event, coordinated by the Town Council across Eastgate Car Park, Navigation Yard, the Town Hall and Riverside Shopping Centre worked in partnership with the Lincolnshire Co-op to use Riverside this year instead of the Market Place due to ongoing enhancement work.
There were almost 100 stalls across the sites and these were supplemented by more stalls and entertainment in Bristol Arcade, Millstream Square, White Hart Mews, the Legionnaires Club, plus the two day Christmas tree festival in the Methodist Church and the crafters market in The Hub.
There were new Christmas lights, new festive figures outside the Town Hall for photo opportunities, plus selfie star and bench outside the Hub and Sleaford Museum provided by NKDC. There were free horse and carriage rides, face painting, balloon models and walkabout entertainment including Victorian Carol Singers, a Polar Bear, Anna and Elsa and a stilt walker.
Live music and dancing took place across the town and there was a children’s Christingle carol event in the Riverside precinct followed by the lights switch on by the Mayor Coun David Suiter with his new Mayor’s Cadet, 19-year-old Sgt Charlie Donner from Sleaford’s Air Cadet Squadron.
A Town Council spokesperson added: “Our team has worked all year to bring this event to the town. All the positive comments we have received make it all worthwhile.”

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Christmas treats. Matt Leather of 4 Eyes Patisserie, from Sheffield, trading at the Hub's contemporary crafters market. Photo: AH

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The Joy of Sponge tree at the Methodist Church's Christmas tree festival. Photo: AH

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Rosemary Segebarth, of Ruskington, admiring the Sleaford Climate Action Network tree at the Methodist Church tree festival. Photo: AH Photo: AH

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Sleaford Methodist Church Christmas tree festival. Photo: AH


