This year Cowley Road Carnival will be celebrated all over Oxford as residents are encouraged to decorate their houses as Carnival floats or throw street parties. The festivities will be complemented by a repeat of last year’s Virtual Carnival plus a Virtual After Party on Mixcloud.

House Floats

Using the 2021 theme ‘Mother Earth’, Cowley Road Works (CRW), the charity which organises the Carnival, is encouraging residents all around the city to decorate their houses or premises in the form of Carnival floats. There will be prizes for the best decorated House Float and a special prize for residents who best address the Mother Earth Carnival theme.

“This is the time for residents to start planning how they are going to decorate their home or business premises,” commented Mark Crampton-Smith, CRW Chairman, who went on to say: “We are negotiating some exciting prizes and we want residents doing House Floats to go completely wild with as many decorations as they can muster!”

Other prizes to be won include Best House Float of The Year, Best Budget House Float, Best Medium House Float, Judges’ Choice Award, and Best Bunted House Float. Judging will take place on 28 June.

The Creative Director Pax Nindi commented: “What is also very important is our aim to support local artists, most of whom haven’t had work since the pandemic started. We are encouraging potential House Float makers to engage these artists in designing or constructing the House Floats. We encourage residents to get in touch with us if they need artist assistance”.

Street Parties

What better way to celebrate Carnival Day and the possible end of lockdown rules than with a street party with your friends, family and neighbours in your community?

CRW Charity Director Sean Duvall commented: “We are aware people really want to celebrate not just Carnival but freedom from lockdowns, so we are encouraging them to celebrate in their own way via organised street parties.

“We urge you to get planning soon as possible, because if you need to close your road, you need a license from Oxford City Council. It isn’t expensive or complicated. Then the fun can really begin!

“Our website has plenty of information for anyone interested in organising their own street party.”

Virtual Carnival @ Home

There will be a live stream featuring music and performance including live broadcasting from Carnival Day street parties on YouTube and Facebook all day from noon – 6pm hosted by Pax Nindi.

The party will continue with DJ sets on Mixcloud throughout the evening. The full line up for the day will be published on the website www.cowleyroadworks.org closer to Carnival Day.

Design a Car-nival MINI competition

Oxford’s young car designers of the future are invited to submit designs to celebrate 20 years of ‘new’ MINI car production at the Plant in Cowley and the Cowley Road Carnival.

The competition is to design a Car-nival celebration MINI using this year’s Cowley Road Carnival theme of ‘Mother Earth’. The winning design will be imaginative, big, bright, bold, and colourful. The judges will also be looking at how the car interprets the eco theme. 

The competition is open to children in school years 6-9. 

For more information on the competition and Cowley Road Carnival go to the website www.cowleyroadworks.org or email admin@cowleyroardworks.org