Sunderland’s Fear of the Wear festival is set to spook the city from October 20, featuring a new free ghostly augmented reality (AR) trail accessible through the Sunderland Experience app. Organized by Sunderland BID and the City Council, the festival includes Guided Ghost Tours, which quickly sold out, and culminates in the city’s inaugural lantern parade on October 28. Schools and community groups have crafted giant lanterns for the parade, which will feature dance performances and brass band music in Keel Square. Families can also enjoy the Sunniside Food Market with a Halloween twist and dance performances by Sunderland College students.
Spooky Sunderland is set to be unveiled this week (Oct 20) as the city’s Fear of the Wear festival gets underway.
As part of the celebration of all things terrifying, the new free ghostly AR trail will be available from this Friday, giving users of the free Sunderland Experience app the opportunity to hunt down ghosts and ghouls across the city centre.
And that sets the scene for a whole host of activities which people of all ages can enjoy.
Organised by Sunderland BID in conjunction with Sunderland City Council, Fear on the Wear is always a huge hit – evident by the fact that a number of Guided Ghost Tours taking place over the next 10 days sold out instantly.
But even anyone who wasn’t lucky enough to snap up a place can still join in the frightening fun, which will culminate in the city’s first lantern parade.
Dozens of schools and community groups have been making the giant lanterns with more than 500 people taking part in the parade which kicks off at 6pm at the Museum and Winter Gardens.
The parade will make its way through the city, ending in Keel Square where there will be dance performances and brass band music.
On Saturday 28 October Sunniside Food Market will be back – with its own Halloween twist – and students from Sunderland College will also be giving dance performances throughout the day.
“With half term on the horizon we know that families will be looking for ways to keep children entertained so the free AR trail is a great solution,” said Sharon Appleby, Chief Executive of Sunderland BID.
“And we also hope people will turn out in force to watch the lantern parade. The groups involved have created some absolutely fantastic lanterns which we are absolutely sure everyone will be completely amazed by.”
For further details of all events visit www.sunderlandbid.co.uk
