Town celebrates Countdown to Christmas

Nairn has celebrated the countdown to Christmas in style with its annual light switch on which was attended by thousands of visitors.

The lights were turned on by nine-year-old Faye Rennie from Rosebank Primary School

Faye entered a bauble making competition to win the honour and was accompanied by Santa who was the special guest for the day.

New to the event was Paws & Claus, Nairn’s first ever festive dog show. The show was supported by Moray Coast Vet Group and t was a big day for Faye, as it was her Collie Samoyed cross JJ who won the Judges’ Pick prize.

And there were more celebrations for the seaside town’s shops with three scooping different honours for their window displays.

Ink & Pink won the accolade for Innovation, Vintage Buy Me took home the prize for Inspiration and the British Red Cross Shop was honoured for its Imaginative displays. The judging was done by local stylist Amanda Latham and STV’s Nicola McAlley.

Amanda said: “The shops really have made such a beautiful effort. The imagination, the spirit and the sparkle was really on show and there were some quite humorous touches too. It really was a difficult decision to pick even three winners. The windows that won, were all so different but so gorgeous. Keep creating your wonderful displays because the imagination, innovation and inspiration you all showed was magical.”

The Countdown to Christmas event which is organised by Nairn BID featured stage entertainment, circus skills workshops, a fire show, and over 70 stalls in two locations.

Back this year was a ceilidh on the Brae run by Dave Godden aka The World’s Smallest Ceilidh Band and one of the highlights was the Nairn Pipe Band who led Santa to the stage where Faye then switched on the lights.

As well as the entertainment, many of the shops created special offers for the day including The Grapemonger and The Classroom Bistro who both offered festive drinks and treats. Other shopkeepers spilled out onto the street to become part of the market including Vitamin Sea Gift Shop and Printing, bakery Makes by Megs and Murray Travel. The Dolphin Chip Shop also had various market day offers.

As well as the activities in the town centre there was also a craft market in the Nairn Community & Arts Centre.

Lucy Harding, manager of Nairn BID said: “It was an absolutely fabulous day and the people of Nairn came out in force to enjoy this community celebration. The planning for this event takes months, so it’s always great when the day finally comes and people come out to enjoy what has been put in place.

“We were delighted to see so many of the businesses getting involved and creating special offers and getting involved in the market.”

Lucy added: “We must say thank you to everyone who helped and got involved from the performers on the stage, Dave Godden who did the ceilidh on the Brae to the library staff who let Santa use their premises for his grotto and to the Scouts who helped him. There are so many more people who help bring this Christmas celebration together. It could not go ahead without a huge community effort and we are very grateful.”