NEWS that Wellington Carnival will not be held again this year regardless of the situation with the Covid-19 pandemic has caused disappointment across the town.

It means the town’s annual street fair held on the first Sunday in June to raise funds for the carnival has also been cancelled for a second successive year.

Town councillor Marcus Barr said he was especially upset because he wanted the street fair to become a celebratory public event and had asked for it to be pushed back until after the end of the Covid lockdown on June 21.

Cllr Barr said: “After more than a year of our lives being so dramatically disrupted by Covid, I would like to see something where everybody can come out onto to the streets and celebrate with each other and be happy.

“The street fair would have been an ideal event for this to happen because the town centre is closed off and people could turn up and have a great time and celebrate life beginning to get back to normal.

“So, it is really disappointing about the carnival and street fair, but maybe we can look to hold some other kind of public celebratory event, perhaps a little later in August.

“I will be asking the town council to consider taking a lead in getting something organised instead because we have the resources to cover things like insurance and road closures.”

The carnival is part of the South Somerset Federation of Carnivals which includes Taunton, Ilminster, and Chard, and the WWN understands none of them will take place this year.

Wellington’s procession is traditionally held on the last Saturday in September but was cancelled in 2020 because of a lack of committee members even before the pandemic took hold.

The annual meeting of Wellington Carnival Committee is scheduled to take place online on Tuesday (March 16) evening.

The WWN understands chairman Sharon Collins hopes to leave the committee in a state of suspension to allow for any new volunteers to take it over and revive the event in future years.

Cllr Barr said: “We are losing so many of our big community events in Wellington because people no longer have the time to volunteer to run them and the carnival is just the latest to be affected.

“I think it is time for the town council to take a lead and look for a different way to keep these events going.”

The WWN has reached out to Ms Collins but at the time of going to press has not had a response.