Truro BID

Christmas in Truro 2025

There will continue to be a programme of festive activities in Truro from 22nd November including Christmas Markets and full details will be announced later this year and listed on www.visittruro.org.uk
 
Due to financial pressures we have decided to prioritise projects including installing and maintaining the city centre Christmas Lights rather than holding a dedicated Truro Christmas Lights Switch-on event this year. Truro’s City Centre Christmas lights will now come on automatically this year during the afternoon of Saturday 22nd November to coincide with the first day of Truro’s Christmas Markets. For details see our full media release.
 

Christmas in Truro 2024

We delivered a four week event programme for Christmas in Truro, Cornwall, which includes Truro's Christmas Lights Switch-on. The main festive events in Truro delivered by Truro BID were: 
  • Friday 22 Nov - Festive Friday (Truro's Christmas Lights Switch-on) with entertainment at 5pm presented by Johnny Cowling and Lucy Start and the lights switched on at 7pm
  • From 27 Nov - Wednesday Late Night Shopping with road closures to create a more enjoyable traffic-free shopping experience and encourage businesses to trade until 9pm
  • Wednesday 27 Nov - The Father Christmas Parade. To celebrate the first late night shopping Father Christmas in his sleigh, dancers, musicians and circus performers paraded around the city at 6.30pm.
  • We also supported: Father Christmas at the Museum, a festive grotto and story telling experience with Coppice Theatre at Truro's Royal Cornwall Museum. Father Christmas at the Museum took place on eight dates from Saturday 7 December and with on sale at: coppicetheatre.co.uk.

In addition to the above, Truro's Christmas Market, brought to the city by Truro Farmers Market is back on Lemon Quay in Festive wooden cabins from Friday 22 November. As part of the city’s festive markets, we worked with Truro Farmers Market and Cornwall Shop Small to bring stalls to Boscawen Street. 

On Wednesdays and Saturdays from the 23 November the Boscawen Street Christmas Markets featured festive gifts and produce from local and independent makers, along with some street food.

Details about these events were listed at: www.visittruro.org.uk, the Official Visitor Information Centre. 
 

Christmas Marketing 2024

We promoted Christmas 2024 in Truro via Our Great Little Festive City marketing campaign, which was part-funded with Visit Truro (a service provided by Truro City Council). 

  • We arranged for 43k flyers to be door-dropped across Cornwall. Truro BID also:
  • Distributed / put up almost 100 event posters in city centre businesses or in the public realm, along with distributing over 1,000 event flyers to businesses.
  • Achieved online and printed media coverage with 15 different articles in five publications. 
  • Advertised with Truro Together and provided editorial. 
  • Provided editorial to Cornwall 365 and Blackbird Pie. 
  • Liaised with primary schools to promote Truro's festive offer to parents/carers.
  • Liaised with the outdoor contractor to achieve added value on the 6-sheet campaign 
  • Purchased sponsorship from Rewind Radio to promote Christmas in Truro. 
  • Provided Visit Truro with suggested content so they could promote our Christmas events on visittruro.org.uk and @visittruro social media channels. 
  • Visit Truro also delivered a Facebook advertising campaign promoting the city as a destination. They also worked with Visit Cornwall to promote the city as a destination at Christmas (rather than via the festive events) which included advertising in Plymouth and Exeter. This was funded by via the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, partly match-funded by GWR, with in-kind support from Truro City Council.