ONE OF the most exciting parades ever staged in the city centre provided a spectacular launch to the Canterbury Festival on Saturday.

Thousands of people gathered to watch the procession which featured dramatic 20ft tall native figures illuminated against the night sky.

This year, two carnival production companies joined forces to stage the event which was the biggest in the festival's history.

Strange Cargo teamed up with Kinetika to present Yemanja which took its inspiration from the carnival traditions of Trinidad and Brazil. It took months of work and even research in Brazil to create the production which involved 300 performers, including many local schoolchildren.

The result was an illuminated procession of amazing images, towering puppets, fabulous costumes and music and dance.

The theme of the procession was the sea and sacred offerings and the giant puppets looked like monsters from the deep.

The procession worked its way down Burgate and into Guildhall Street before turning back up the High Street and down St Margaret's Street towards the Dane John Gardens for a spectacular fire sculpture finale.

Earlier in the day, the street festival entertainment had been blighted by heavy rain but artists like The Cherubs, Chupacabra and Dr Southall's Medicine Show still managed to put in some performances between the showers.

The two-week festival offers a bumper programme of every conceivable art form from stand-up comedy to opera and theatre to guided walks.