MORE than 5,000 people are expected to descend on Derby's Market Place this weekend for the city's annual Christmas lights switch-on.
Entertainment will this year be provided by former X Factor finalist and Derbyshire singer Lucy Spraggan, Derby soul singer Jamie Joseph, acoustic vocalist Mike Dignam and city band Vetches.
The event, on Saturday, November 15, from 3.30pm, will be hosted by Capital FM Breakfast Show presenters Dino and Pete.
The parade, which starts at The Spot, will be from at 4.30pm, It will include stilt-walking Jacks of Frost, the Lost Elves - a comic duo who have strayed from their path to the North Pole - and The Snow Queen's Ice Chariot, a wintery display of arctic acrobatics.
Derby motocross racer Nitro Neo, seven, will lead the parade and he will be followed by Santa; Naughty Meg, from Derby Live's production of Naughty Meg and the Christmas Elves, and the ambassadors of Borrowash brass band. T
Members of Derby City Council's pantomime Aladdin, the cast of Mickleover Players' Dick Whittington, Kaleidoscope Players' Treasure Island and pupils from Stagecoach Derby will also feature in the parade.
The Christmas lights will be turned on at about 6pm by a selection of the performers, along with the Mayor of Derby, Councillor Shiraz Khan; Councillor Alison Martin, cabinet member for leisure and culture; and the Youth Mayor, Belal Butt.
Councillor Alison Martin, cabinet Member for leisure and culture, said: "The switching on of the Christmas lights is always one of the highlights of the year.
"It's a great free event for all the family and brings everyone together to see a great line up of local acts and new up and coming talent. It provides the perfect end to a day of Christmas shopping in the city centre."
Lucy Spraggan, a musician who was born in Buxton, attended the University of Derby. In July 2011, she was announced as the runner-up of the urban, pop and acoustic category of Live and Unsigned at the age of 20.
She auditioned for The X Factor in 2012, when she performed her own composition, Last Night, but it was later announced she would be quitting her run on the show due to illness, so she finished in ninth place and second in her category.
She was the first contestant in the show's history to score a Top 40 single and album before the live shows even aired with her independently-released album Top Room At The Zoo.
Vetches are a three-piece pop, electronic and rock band hailing from the city of Derby. Jamie Thompson, Lee Cooper and Seb Bois formed in April 2014 after spending six months together in the studio writing and recording.
Mike Dignam is a singer-songwriter from the North-West of England who has been writing, recording and touring his own music for the past five years. In 2013, he supported Lewis Watson, Gabrielle Aplin and Lawson on sell-out UK tours and entered the iTunes singersongwriter chart at number five with Live. Love. Sing.
And Jamie Joseph is an upcoming 24-year-old soul singer and songwriter. His music and song writing has been inspired from growing up in a working-class area of Derby.
The event has been organised by Derby Live.
