Aberdare’s looking a lot like Christmas
A CYNON Valley town centre started the festive celebrations in style with its Christmas festival on Saturday.
Hundreds of people turned out for the Aberdare event, which saw the town offer a range of activities – from Santa’s Grotto to a children’s fun fair, market stalls and face painting.
There was also live entertainment from a stage created at Library Square, while reindeer dropped by .
Young and old turned out for the event, a joint venture by the Aberdare Business and Tourism As- sociation and Rhondda Cynon Taf council.
Jim Bradley, chairman of the association, said the event was a resounding success.
He said: “It was an outstanding day, and we enjoyed great weather. We re-arranged everything around the town a bit from last year, and it seemed to work very well – especially in Canon Street and Market Street.
“Social media has helped too, with people telling each other where everything was going to be, and that brought the crowds in. I think local businesses took advantage of that, and people could apply to have stalls too – I think they did well.”
Mr Bradley added that the Christmas festival is planned to return next year, along with other events bringing local people together.
“We’ll certainly look to do the event again, subject to funding.
“We’re now starting to look forward to next year, to get more and more people interested in the town. That’s one of the things that’s keeping the town alive.”