CARNIVAL organisers are gearing up for a spectacular end-of-century celebration.

The Lancashire Evening Telegraph is a sponsor of this year's Famous Accrington Carnival, which will light up the town on Saturday, June 19.

It will be the sixth time the Accrington Lions charity group has run the event since taking up the reins in 1989.

Organisers are hoping for a dry summer to set the scene for a dazzling day of events.

Thousands of people joined in the fun at the 1997 carnival, which raised nearly £13,000 for good causes in Hyndburn.

The Lions say the biennial event, first held in 1921, is the biggest in the region and attracts people from across the North.

Special events have been set up for the week leading up to carnival day, with people invited to join in line dance and sequence dancing classes.

Chart-topping Eighties band China Crisis and Lancashire folk group the Houghton Weavers are among the star guests.

The Carnival Queen will be crowned on Wednesday, May 12, at the Poplar Club, Wellington Street.

And she will lead a town centre procession on the big day, which will include a spectacular array of floats, marching bands, dancers and entertainers.

One of the bands will be Utopia, formerly known as the Burnley Scout Band, who will be joined by the Rhyddings Steel Band.

A giant Chinese Lion puppet will also roar through the streets, manned by Darwen Kung Fu School members.

The fun will then move on to Accrington and Rossendale College's playing fields with fairground rides, stalls and refreshments.

The Knights of Arkley jousting group will hold a medieval tournament, complete with horses, swords and lances.

Tickets for a Grand Draw, first prize £500, will be sold in Broadway and by local schools and charity groups in the lead-up to the carnival.

Publicity officer Tony Clarkson said: "We thought about breaking with tradition and holding the next carnival in the year 2000.

"But there will be a lot of other things happening next year and people like to have the carnival every two years.

"We want to make this an extra-special event because it's the last one of the millennium and we'd like to beat the cash total from 1997."

Anyone who would like more information about any aspect of the carnival can call Tony Clarkson on 01254 385224.

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