Penny Rutterford on the return of Walthamstow’s festive High Street celebration
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The last ADVENTure celebration (credit: James Robertshaw)

Wander down Walthamstow High Street on this evening and you may just spot some penguins. High Street ADVENTures is back!

The event stretches from Central Parade to CRATE in St James Street and was put together by Artillery, the organisation behind the E17 Art Trail.

Businesses will be staying open late for the special celebration, commissioned by Waltham Forest Council, with activities taking place from 3pm until 11 at night.

These include a neon windmill parade, spoken word, drummers, colombian dancers, a drag bingo cabaret and much more.

The event is designed to support the High Street’s many and varied businesses and highlight the importance of a thriving night time economy for our town centre.

The last ADVENTure celebration (credit: James Robertshaw)

Artillery co-director Laura Kerry said: “We know from so many of our neighbourhood projects that culture can have an enormous impact on how people feel about the place in which they live, shop and play.

“We are excited by the response of our local creative community to work with us and local businesses to develop an exciting programme of free events.

“We would particularly like to thank all the local businesses who in spite of the exceptional strains on their business due to the pandemic have embraced this event and we hope people will come out to support them”.

One artist taking part is Alisa Ruzavina, in charge of creating a trail of linked shop window displays, which she is using to highlight the diverse cultural heritages of the street’s businesses.

She said: “As a local resident, I love the High Street! It’s an authentic cultural melting pot, a place for our community to enjoy the city together. Being an immigrant myself, I am inspired to use storytelling to celebrate the incredible diversity of our area”.

The last ADVENTure celebration (credit: James Robertshaw)

Creative Climate Action Group have decided to run a workshop on creating neon windmills from recycled water bottles, followed by a parade of the results in the town square.

Founding member Sam Griffiths said: “We wanted to create an icon for the event that would look fun and exciting on a December evening.

“We also wanted to reuse materials and make use of community creativity. We see the windmill as a way to bring all those things together into one positive symbol.”

Other highlights include spoken word performances organised by Sarah Lisney, creator of Poetic Conscience, and pop-up performances from our local panto “RAPunzel”.

Find the full programme for High Street ADVENTures online at www.highstreetadventures.info or drop by the information hub in the Town Square from 3pm.

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