Llanelli town centre rock-and-rolled its way back to decades past as our Llanelli Vintage Festival kicked off on Saturday!
Organised by Ymlaen Llanelli and supported by Llanelli Town Council, the event saw a whole load of vintage activities throughout the town, from music on stage in Vaughan Street to vintage vehicles and stalls on Stepney Street, Cowell Street and Spring Gardens.
Chair of Ymlaen Llanelli, Lesley Richards, said it was a fantastic day: “We always love when Llanelli Vintage Festival comes around – there's always so many smiling faces and the streets are filled with people’s fond memories. It’s great to see people from all walks of life come together in the town centre and make new memories as a community. That’s what Ymlaen Llanelli is all about.”
Street food and market stalls lined the streets from 9am as festival-goers began to trickle in, with the crowds picking up as vintage vehicles arrived from 10am.
The town then paid its respects to Queen Elizabeth II with a minute’s silence on stage at 11:30am, followed by Cor Meibion Elli, who dedicated a set of songs to Her Majesty, including a song they had written for the Platinum Jubilee earlier this year.
At noon, A Time to Dance took to the stage to kick off the vintage festivities with dance demonstrations, and an interactive line-dancing workshop to get people in the mood for the afternoon’s Dolly Parton tribute.
The sun shone bright as the day went on and the sound of live local music drifted through the streets, including the James Oliver Band, the Wurlitzers and Soul Dragon. The crowds were also in for a surprise as Harry Lewis, the day’s Meatloaf tribute, revealed that he was from Pont-Henri – and then proceeded to take off his wig in a passionate rendition of Bat Out Of Hell.
BID Manager, Mandy Jenkins, was thrilled with how the day went: “We’d just like to say a massive thank you to all our festival acts, stallholders, vehicle showers and of course our volunteers. We’re so glad everyone had a fab day and we can’t wait to see you at Llanelli Food and Drink Festival next month!”
Be sure to check out our event video for Llanelli Vintage Festival here. We'll be back with our next event, Llanelli Food and Drink Festival, on Saturday 15th October – it's the big one that's not to be missed!
