Ali Pretty and digital artist Richard White worked with the New Carnival Company to lead a public 100 mile, 5 day walk across the Island, stopping at 9 carnival towns and villages for a display, performance and flag handover ceremony to celebrate 125 years of Island Carnival traditions. This event launched the Isle of Wight Walking Festival 2014 and according to IOW Radio, around 500 people attended the trail and five participants managed to complete the whole 100 miles over the five days.
Throughout Spring, Ali led silk workshops to create the nine silk banners which were each inspired by collected stories, reminiscence and archive from each local carnival tradition. For each town, a banner was carried by walkers over the five days for each part of the 100-mile route. Local communities in each town joined the trail including 190 schoolchildren who carried small flags they made in workshops with local artists (led by Ali Pretty).
You can now download the Carnival Trail Companion app which provides a further level of experience for those following the Isle of Wight Carnival Walking Trail. The app offers echoes of the carnival and the thoughts and reflections of carnival organisers. You can also like The Carnival Trail IOW on Facebook.
