After many months of planning, preparation, gaining permissions and working alongside Somerset Police. This was filmed on Friday at the Wells Carnival.
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Years ago, I was in a carnival band ( yep started off as a drummer and progressed to euphonium) We took part in a night time parade at Glastonbury. Looked very similar to this one. 
Edit, I’ve found a video of it 1987.
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cracking vid - awesome what can be done when proper planning and discussion with the relevant stakeholders is put into action.
So many people just think things like this are impossible, but that is just not so and when done right the results speak for themselves.
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wow, love it. People don’t believe me when I say the carnivals have been running for over 100 years. I was in a marching band in the Weston-super-mare carnival.
Thank you for your kind words. 
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Fantastic, I would love to go to see this.
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If you haven’t seen one upfront yet, you need to add one to your diary. Amazing evening.
them days have gone in coventry, boring, tight council.
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To be fair, the cost is pretty big to look after 40,000 people around the city and manage 300+ carts/floats.
They are something to behold, and the atmosphere is marvellous. These things are based on agricultural machinery, but the designs and costumes are the result of volunteer effort from ordinary people who are doing it for the feck of it; they take about 9 months and then the last 3 of the year are Carnival Season.
Leds have made a huge difference to the amount of light they can put out within the capacity of the generator (third vehicle in the road train), but I was fortunate enough to see them in the days of incandescent bulbs. You could make toast on the amount of heat coming off them! That said, there is still a distinct amount of warmth generated by the leds!
Go and see one if you get the chance, dress for hanging around in the weather and go early, take hot drinks, and something to sit on; my ex-wife would be ideal*. The best viewing spots are gone before dark.
*Divorce diet, very effective, lost 16stone of useless ugly fat in an instant and was too poor to buy food afterwards. She fucked off with my best mate; I don’t half miss him…
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I did have the pleasure of being in the carnivals back in 1979 - 84 in w-s-m, but never under the floats with incandescent bulbs and heat. Marching in the cold and rain…
I used to go to the “Bridgewater Carnival” when it came to Bristol in the mid 80’s.
Seeing it traverse through the streets of Bristol was a wonder, I always watched by
the cenotaph in the centre and I would go to the chip shop at the bottom of Christmas steps and get chips cooked properly in dripping to enjoy while watching the floats go by.
Seeing today how the carnival has evolved, what a transformation with more dynamic lighting and moving platforms on the floats is truly wonderful.
Will make a point of going to see it live next year, hopefully in Bristol but will adapt.
And as for the video coverage you made, top marks!
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It was a sight to behold, those chips sound great. Glad you enjoyed the video.
This excellent post reminded me that I visited Wells in 2016 and was astounded to find that it was the weekend of their Carnival. I dug into the archive and found the video clips I caught on the evening of 18.11.16. Eight years and three days later I compiled them into this 6-minute video. It’s in your face, raucous, and noisy, but this gives some idea of the effort that these Carnival Clubs put in to making their floats.
The carnival is every November and there’s a circuit of Somerset towns (and city!) they visit, see https://www.somersetcountycarnivals.com/.
Filmed 18.11.16 using a OnePlus 7T smartphone in 1080p. Edited 21.11.24.
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Wow, love the video. I think I remember a few of them. When someone goes for the first time they’re normally blown away and come back for years after. I going to share my time-lapse from Friday when I was 120 m up overlooking the city of Wells.
Wells Carnival 2024 Time-Lapse
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Thanks, yes I’m already thinking about next year. I like the time-lapse … that’s presumably 1000+ frames taken over 35 mins at 2 sec intervals? That’s more than my Mini 3 Pro can manage!
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You presume correctly Mavic Pro 3
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