LIVERPOOL’S annual Halloween Lantern Carnival has been cancelled due to funding difficulties.
Organisers of the event, which draws 10,000 visitors to Sefton Park each year, say it cannot go ahead because of a drop in city council money.
The Liverpool Lantern Company was given an £18,500 grant to run this year’s night-time parade, which has become a major event on the city’s cultural calendar.
But without top-up funding, provided for events held during Capital of Culture and Liverpool’s 800th birthday years, it cannot afford to be held.
This has had a knock-on effect on match funding by organisations such as the Arts Council. Jo Pocock, of the Liverpool Lantern Company, said: “We have had considerably less funding from the City Council, so we were not able to get the same matching funds as previous years.
“It’s a very popular community-based event and we also get emails from people up and down the country asking about this year’s carnival.
“We are hoping that we will be able to bring it back next year and will be looking at a number of ways of funding it.”
A smaller-scale event will now be held at St Luke’s Church, Leece Street, Liverpool, catering for just over 1,000 people.
But, as most of the tickets have already been allocated to people who have taken part in Lantern Company workshops throughout 2009, there are only around 200 left for the general public.
