'More the merrier' as Straw Bear Festival returns

Visitors are being welcomed to a traditional event where a man dressed as a straw animal is paraded through a market town.

The Whittlesey Straw Bear Festival, which dates to at least the mid-19th Century, has drawn thousands of people to the Cambridgeshire town after its 1980s revival.

A procession, led by the bear, will go through the town, near Peterborough, on Saturday accompanied by about 250 dancers and musicians, before the effigy of the straw bear is burned at Decoy Lakes on Sunday to mark the end of the celebration.

Festival president, Brian Kell, said he was "feeling positive" about the weekend and the more people who attended "the merrier".

The annual custom fell into decline at the end of the 19th Century and was forbidden by the local police force in 1909 because it was seen as a form of begging.

The revived tradition now involves groups of morris and molly dancers and other folk groups from across England.

This year an augmented reality (AR) Straw Bear will also be part of the event and can be spotted by people with smartphones via the free Love Exploring app.

Mr Kell told BBC Radio Cambridgeshire: "The Straw Bear is a man dressed in straw. It was bound around his body and he was paraded around the town at the back end of the 1800s.

"There was recompense expected - a donation of beer, food or perhaps tobacco - it was begging and was stopped by the police because it offended the Vagrancy Act."

Mr Kell added the cold weather forecast could be challenging for the driver - the person inside the Straw Bear - but only after the event.

"Once the bear takes over, and the bear does take over the driver, you don't think about the cold until you finish and then of course it hits you," Mr Kell said.

"It's like a wind tunnel, the wind whistles through the wisps of straw... it's cold."

He added parking could be an issue as they had no control over how many people attended the festival, but a Park & Ride was being set up between Grosvenor Road bus station and the Sir Harry Smith Community College between 08:30 and 16:30.

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