STRATFORD will be coming to a standstill once again during this year’s Shakespeare’s Birthday Celebrations.
The National Living Statue Championship – held for the first time in Stratford last year – will return to town on April 27 and 28.
The inaugural competition saw street performers from across the globe take centre stage in Bancroft Gardens. Matt Walters aka the ‘Mechanical Fracture’ from Sussex took home the coveted title.
The 2018 birthday weekend celebrations, which also included a ‘community literary carnival pageant’, was worth around £3million to the local economy.
And organisers are confident they can top last year’s figure.
A ‘whole host of special events’ are planned to draw yet more crowds although organisers remain tight-lipped on the details at this stage.
But traditionalists can rest assured the flag unfurling ceremony and quill carrying procession will remain a familiar feature.
This year also marks the 250th anniversary of Shakespeare actor and theatre manager David Garrick’s jubilee in Stratford, held in 1769.
It is considered the event which established Shakespeare as a world-famous playwright and marked the beginning of the town as a tourist destination.
Visit www.shakespearescelebrations to keep updated with celebrations plans.
