Victorian Market fills town centre streets with festive cheer

Wrexham town centre was full of festive cheer yesterday, with streets packed as thousands of people turned out to visit the annual Victorian Christmas Market.

The event brought together a host of traders and stallholders selling everything from mistletoe, mulled ciders, cakes, chutneys, gifts, wreaths; handmade crafts, hot food, confectionery and much, much more.

Over the years demand for the event has meant it has expanded into the town centre streets – with Hope Street, Queens Street and Henblas also playing host to stalls and entertainment. St Giles also had some tower tours on offer, where we grabbed the below picture from:

Elsewhere on Queens Square there was the chance to ride a carousel, take in the sights from the top of a ferris wheel or enjoy some classic carnival games.

There were also some Victorian street performers roaming around ready to entertain the crowds, including a police officer riding a penny farthing, Punch and Judy performances, magic and a couple of cockney urchins creating mischief.

The Council’s event manager is enjoying herself too 😀 pic.twitter.com/JhrFyPL7QH

— Wrexham.com (@wrexham) December 5, 2019

Although popular throughout the day, it’s when it gets darker and the Christmas lights illuminate the town when the event attracts the large crowds. Although the event had to finish half an hour earlier due to the weather, the blustery conditions didn’t deter visitors who came to enjoy the market’s offering after school and work.

The event was also supported by a festive promotion from Wrexham Council, with free after three parking in most council carparks.

As always the Victorian Market had a positive knock-on effect to businesses across the town centre, many of which stayed open for late night shopping, and some appeared extra busy with customers inside and out.

The event also debuted a ‘cool addition’, with ice carver extraordinaire Simon O’Rourke creating an ice sculpting trail across various locations in the town.

This culminated with the live carving of a dragon at the Wrexham Museum.

The dragon lives!

The breathtaking ice carving work of Simon O’Rourke @treecarving at the Victorian Street Market this evening@wrexhamcbc @ThisIsWrexham @wrexhamevents @love_wrexham @openroadstudios #Wrexham @wrexham #IceCarving pic.twitter.com/QyijIScHAn

— Wrexham Museums (@wrexhammuseums) December 5, 2019

The next big festive event for the town will be Friday 13th until Sunday 15th December, when Llwyn Isaf will be transformed into a Christmas Village.

(Thanks to Joe Bickerton for the top pic!)