The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Fair City gets in the spirit of Christmas
The countdown to Christmas has begun as Perth Christmas events get under way this weekend.
While there will be no grand lights switch-on event due to Covid, a host of activities are planned.
Today Santa has set up his free grotto at Horsecross Plaza, with gifts for children from 2-7pm.
At weekends he will be joined by his reindeer, with the grotto open tomorrow from noon to 8pm and on Sunday from noon to 6pm.
Next Friday, Saturday and Sunday’s opening hours for the grotto will remain the same.
The heart of the Fair City will sparkle with ice sculptures tomorrow and on Sunday, while there will also be a fairground organ performance on both days.
Tomorrow there will be Christmas Ghost tours, Perth Pipe Band and walkabout characters, while Perth and Kinross Council has confirmed the Christmas lights will magically – but without fanfare – be switched on around 3.30pm.
On November 27 there will be silent discos at the recently revamped St Paul’s and get ready to don your Santa suit for the Santa 5k run on December 4.
Christmas workshops are to take place in the run-up to Christmas and there will be bird of prey displays from Alba Falconry on November 27, December 4 and December 11.
All of these events are free to attend.
From Friday December 10 the one-way 1km route of the Christmas Wonderland event will take place across the Norie Miller Walk and Rodney Gardens in Perth city centre.
Tickets for this event – which is not run by Perth and Kinross Council – can be purchased online and cannot be bought at the event itself.
Outside of Perth there will be markets in Crieff, Pitlochry and Kinross.
Perth and Kinross Council leader Murray Lyle said: “We are pleased to be able to offer a programme of events and bring a Christmas celebration to the city for 2021.
“While there will be no big Christmas light switch-on event this year again, we hope to bring people back to the city to enjoy the build-up to Christmas and to support the wonderful local businesses based in and around the city centre.
“The team have pulled together a diverse and exciting range of familyoriented events that we hope will appeal to everyone and help kick off the festive season.
“This year’s offering has been kept smaller than in previous years to ensure the safety and wellbeing of everyone.
“Our first priority, is to maintain the highquality programme everyone associates with our normal Christmas light switch-on,” Mr Lyle added.
“We have a wide variety of events to help everyone get into the Christmas spirit and I look forward to events starting next month.”
The full calendar of events can be found on the Perth City Centre website perthcity.co.uk/section/ perth-city-centre/ perth-city-and-towns-events
For more information about the Christmas Wonderland at Perth Riverside or to book your tickets, visit the official website at perthchristmas wonderland.co.uk