Halloween
HarroSCREAM
Harrogate BID enjoy helping the town centre get into the Halloween spirit with our ‘HarroSCREAM’ takeovers. In 2021, Harrogate BID dressed a vacant unit in the Victoria Shopping Centre and created a Halloween themed pop-up photobooth, featuring a balloon wall selfie opportunity. The pop-up photobooth also acted as a final location on the Halloween-themed interactive trail on the LoyalFree App. Our Halloween-themed Street Entertainers, ‘Trick and Treat’ were also in the town centre adding to the Halloween spirit.
In 2022, Harrogate BID carried on the ‘HarroSCREAM’ offer and brought the ‘Freaky Feelers’ installation to take over the Piazza area of the Victoria Shopping Centre which are giant inflatable tentacles appearing to come out of the ground. The ‘Freaky Feelers’ were paired with the return of Street Entertainers, Trick and Treat for the Halloween weekend.
Harrogate Floral Summer of Celebration
Celebrating Harrogate’s Floral Elegance
Harrogate first entered Yorkshire in bloom in 1975 and has enjoyed considerable success and recognition for its floral offering, winning Yorkshire in Bloom 33 times, Britain in Bloom 12 times and the only town to have ever won Europe in Bloom twice.
During the Summer of 2022, we at Harrogate BID wanted to bring communities and the town centre together along with solidarity and creativity, to celebrate the town and the return of Yorkshire in Bloom after two turbulent years of restrictions. We want to support businesses by celebrating Harrogate for what it is truly renowned for – its floral heritage.
Harrogate BID worked with local partners and businesses to be create the ‘Harrogate Floral Summer of Celebration’, which comprised of several unique floral stories in the town centre told through gigantic props including a Victorian Bath, a Teacup and a Giant Garden Gnome. Visitors were able complete the trail whilst taking in Harrogate’s opulent history.
In addition to the trail, an immersive exhibition was situated in the Victoria Shopping Centre across the duration of the campaign which truly celebrated Harrogate’s floral history, highlighting each story from the trail and a film featuring the town from 1959, curated by the Yorkshire Film Archive.
Following the success of this campaign, Harrogate BID are delighted to announce that we have been named as a finalist in this year’s 2023 RHS Britain in Bloom UK Finals. The Harrogate Floral Summer of Celebration will be back in the Summer of 2023.
Jubilee Celebrations
Harrogate BID partnered with Your Harrogate and Visit Harrogate to transform the West Park Stray into the epicentre of Harrogate’s Jubilee Celebrations to ‘Jubilee Square’.
Over the four days of the Jubilee, visitors and residents were invited to head into the heart of Harrogate for picnics, pageantry and a family-friendly party and join the nation in celebrating Her Majesty the Queen’s 70 years of service. The bank holiday weekend was full of broadcasted Royal events from London – bringing a flavour of Buckingham Palace and beyond to the town. As well as a programme of events to suit everyone including live music, dog show, day at the races, Harrogate Mastermind and even an outdoor cinema on the final day showing Encanto and The Greatest Showman. Over the four days, approximately 8,000 people came to Jubilee Square to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee in true British style.
Jurassic Crazy Golf
Dinosaurs are in Town!
Partnering with the Victoria Shopping Centre, Harrogate BID brought Jurassic Crazy Golf to the town centre as the Summer holidays were coming to an end. The nine-hole pop-up mini crazy golf course – complete with dinosaurs – took over the Victoria Shopping Centre Piazza, in aim to bring families into the town centre as a great way of spending an hour or two before visiting Harrogate’s great shops, bars and restaurants. The Jurassic Crazy Golf was suitably paired with an educational Dino Trail via the LoyalFree App.
Lego Trail
After popular demand, the Harrogate Lego Trail returned to the town with an Alice in Wonderland twist for a successful second year.
Harrogate BID partnered with the charity Fairy Bricks for a second year in a row, who provide and fundraise for Lego Models for children in hospital to improve their quality of life. From the beginning of August, 15 life-size Alice in Wonderland models took over 15 businesses in the town centre for 3 weeks, from the Mad Hatter to the Queen of Hearts Throne.
The models featured in an interactive trail on the LoyalFree App and had almost 10,000 people take part and also spend time in the town centre over the Summer holidays – double the amount from 2021!
Partner Events & Campaigns
We work with key partners to deliver exceptional events and campaigns that bring people in and generate spend for our BID members and town centre businesses alike.
At Harrogate BID we believe that collaboration is key to success, by bringing resources, skills and talent together to deliver extraordinary events and campaigns, all with the same objective in mind – to enhance Harrogate’s reputation as the destination of choice for shopping, eating and drinking.
Just some of our partner events and campaigns include Enchantica’s Father Christmas Experience, additional Christmas animation with Destination Harrogate, Jubilee Square with Visit Harrogate and Your Harrogate, Harrogate International Festivals’ Fire and Light Experience and Harrogate Beer Week. This is something we will continue to do in our next five-year term.
With thanks to all of our partners:
Windows on the Past
Health and Healing in Medieval England
Over the Easter holidays in 2022, medical treatments in medieval times were put under the public microscope at an interactive pop-up museum in Harrogate town centre.
Staged within the Victoria Shopping Centre, the ‘Window on the Past’ gave shoppers a chance to compare modern cures and living conditions with those from almost a thousand years ago. Harrogate BID partnered with The Jorvik Group of Attractions to bring this installation, giving families another reason to visit the town in the Easter holidays.
The installation also considered elements of medieval life in the Harrogate district, such as where locals may have gone to seek medical help, and whether people were aware of the benefits of clean water even before Harrogate’s springs were discovered.
