Holidays are coming with The Big Switch On this Saturday

Take a walk down the high street this weekend and Southend will be beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

This Saturday 18th November, a festive Christmas market will bring winter charm to the city centre and the stage will be set for one of the most exciting events in the calendar… The Big Switch On!

Kids can take part in a magical Christmas trail “Spread the Cheer and Leave as a Reindeer” – the trail maps will be available from The Royals Shopping Centre, Café Nero and Laurence Matthews Arts, Craft & Hobby Store. You can also pick up a trail map, enjoy live jazz music and a festive market at The Ironworks.

Meanwhile Father Christmas will be waiting to meet you at The Victoria Shopping Centre before he joins in with the Christmas lights switch on.

Throughout the day there’ll be all sorts of live entertainment from Caribbean steel drums and flamenco dancers to a lively Ceilidh band, and the much-anticipated debut performance of The Ironworks Youth Theatre!

The Christmas lights switch on takes place at 6pm and we’re delighted that this year’s Big Switch On will be headlined by some of our favourite performers from our open mic tour! Since the very beginning of our Candlelight Acoustic Night Open Mic Tour, Southend City Radio has been proud to showcase our local musicians, capture the atmosphere of our local venues through our live events and build a community of local people supporting our independent and unsigned musicians.

That’s why we’re thrilled to see Kate West, Phil Edey, Emma-Jane Beaumont and Mark Hardy quite literally lighting up Southend, just as they’ve been doing on tour! You can see them all performing on the main stage from 6pm this Saturday as the Christmas lights are switched on.

Afterwards, the festivities will culminate with the grand finale of the seafront fireworks display from 7.30pm.

For more local events then visit our local events page.