Truro BID

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Christmas in Truro 2023

We again delivered a four week event programme for Christmas in the city, which included Truro's City Centre Christmas Lights. The main festive events in Truro which we organised in 2023 were: 
 
• Fri 24 Nov - Festive Friday (Truro’s Christmas Lights Switch-on). The event, which had more live music once the lights were switched on at 7pm, marked the start of the festive period. 
 
• Wednesday Late Night Shopping - where we arranged road closures to create a more enjoyable traffic-free shopping experience and encouraged businesses to trade until 9pm.
 
• Wed 29 Nov - The Father Christmas Parade. To continue the excitement following Festive Friday, we organised a new event where Father Christmas and his sleigh, community dance groups, musicians and circus performers will paraded around the city for the first late night shopping.
 
• Wednesdays and Saturdays from 29 Nov - We worked with Truro Farmers Market so that Boscawen St could host some Truro Farmers Market produce stalls, and where we organised street food, and entertainment.
 
• Finding Father Christmas at the Museum. We worked with Coppice Theatre and Royal Cornwall Museum to bring the unique storytelling and grotto experience back to Truro. 
 
Details about these events which we lead were on www.visittruro.org.uk, the Official Visitor Information Centre. 
 
We also distributed over 90 reindeer Christmas Lights to businesses to help them to make their shop windows and / or premises more festive.
 
New for 2023, we brought six large, fun and colourful Christmas lights into the city. Previously situated at Victoria Gardens, the lights were relocated for even more residents and visitors to enjoy. 
 

Christmas Marketing 2023

We promoted Christmas 2023 in Truro via Our Great Little Festive City marketing campaign, which was part-funded with Visit Truro. This included some 6 sheet advertising posters in prime locations to reach pedestrians in Truro and an events flyer which we arranged to be door-dropped to 60k homes across Cornwall.

Truro BID also:

  • Purchased radio advertising with Pirate FM to promote Festive Friday 
  • Achieved media coverage following our media releases 
     Two BBC Spotlight interviews for Festive Friday, where we also involved the Hall for Cornwall so they could promote Peter Pan.
    •    An interview on Pirate FM about Late Night Shopping in Truro.
    •    Coverage on CHAOS Digital about Christmas in Truro.
    •    An interview to promote Finding Father Christmas on BBC Radio Cornwall.
  • Distributed / put up over 140 event posters in city centre businesses or in the public realm.
  • Advertised with Cornwall 365.
  • Liaised with primary schools to promote Truro's festive offer to parents and carers

Visit Truro also promoted our Christmas events on visittruro.org.uk and @visittruro social media channels.

The events were made possible thanks to the 370 or so Truro Businesses who pay the BID levy. 
 

 
 
 

Christmas Events 2022

For 2022 we continued to fund and install Truro's annual Christmas Lights scheme. We were delighted to bring back Festive Friday for the second year, featuring Truro's Christmas Lights Switch-on. 

To deliver Festive Friday we worked in partnership with Pirate FM, Truro City Council (who supplied the stage and staffing) and Hall for Cornwall (who organised the festive parade and entertainment). We also delivered:

  • Wednesday Late-Night Shopping dates from 23 November. This included traffic-free streets in December (by arranging and funding security for road closures), entertainment and street food in Boscawen St.
  • Finding Father Christmas Grotto in Truro Cathedral with Coppice Theatre, where we worked with Coppice Theatre on logistics and helped fund the event.
  • Christmas Lights and entertainment in Victoria Gardens.
  • The illuminated reindeer trail where around 90 shop windows on the high street were decorated with reindeer Christmas lights throughout the festive season.
  • Traffic-free shopping streets in Boscawen St, entertainment and street food on the last Saturday before Christmas Eve.

In addition, we supported Truro Farmers Market BIG Christmas Market which took place on Lemon Quay.  

The events were made possible thanks to the 380 or so Truro Businesses who pay the BID levy. Pre-Covid we supported the City of Lights team to deliver this annual event which attracted c.30,000 visitors. 

Christmas Marketing 2022

We promoted Christmas 2022 in Truro via Our Great Little Festive City marketing campaign with Visit Truro. This included an events flyer and Truro Guide with an events listing which we arranged to be door-dropped to 58k homes across Cornwall. Truro BID also:

  • Purchased radio advertising with Pirate FM to promote Festive Friday 
  • Achieved media coverage following our media releases. 
  • Distributed / put up around 120 event posters in city centre businesses or in the public realm.
  • Advertised with Cornwall 365.
  • Liaised with primary schools to promote Truro's festive offer to parents and carers

Visit Truro also promoted our Christmas events on visittruro.org.uk and @visittruro social media channels.