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Isle Of Wight Mardi Gras Theme Revealed For 2023

Photo credit: Tracy Curtis.

The theme for this summer's Isle of Wight Mardi Gras has been revealed.

This summer's IW Mardi Gras will take place in Ryde on Saturday July 8.

Entitled ‘Year of the Coast’, the theme aims to reflect national celebrations for the opening and creation of England’s coastal path.

The new national trail coast has created a path which goes all the way around England.

It will be the longest continuous coastal path in the world, stretching some 2,800 miles.

The Isle of Wight’s coastal path is 82 miles long incorporating the heritage coastlines of Tennyson and Hamstead.

This year's Mardi Gras will see organisers, New Carnival, link up with the National Children’s Carnival week (July 8-16), which is aimed at engaging children and young people with carnival arts up and down the country.

New Carnival’s creative director, Gina Dyer, set out the topics and themes this year to be explored in the creation of the carnival costumes and performance.

She said:

"The Mardi Gras ‘year of the coast’ theme has a wealth of inspiration for creating carnival costumes.

"Each topic has a local group or organisation linked to it. We are looking forward to seeing all the ideas from our young people and helping them to realise their designs for costumes.

"We will continue to promote and use sustainable materials, recycling, and re-purposing.”

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