Free festivals for families coming to St Helens and Earlestown town centres

The events will be staged on Saturday, August 28 and will feature live music, song and dance classes, puppetry, craft sessions and much more from a variety of street performers and entertainers.

The event is part of St Helens Borough Council’s partnership with Night Time Economy Solutions which aim to bring a variety of projects to support businesses with their Covid-19 recovery.

Organisers say acts at the festival will include Thingumajig Theatre’s Hippochondriac, who will need your help to find out why the hippo puppet is under the weather.

There will also be Lego activities, direct from Bright Bricks, the UK’s official LEGO builder, as seen on Channel 4.

There will be Sports Day entertainers

Councillor Jeanie Bell, cabinet member for safer, stronger communities, says the aim is to bring the town centres to life with "amazing performances" and to support local businesses.

Cllr Bell said: "With an action packed line up it’s an opportunity to bring the whole family along and spend the day in the town centres enjoying the entertainment and visiting cafes, restaurants and shops.

"This is the first of three events planned this year as part of our Economic Reset and Recovery Plan, encouraging people to come back to our town centres and support our local businesses who need our help more than ever after a difficult 18 months.”

Be Prepared Girl Guides are among the acts

The activities are funded by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority’s Town Centre Fund.

The line-up for St Helens town centre includes:

• The Lifeguards

• B-Boys

• The Living Lamp Posts

• LEGO Makes & Takes

• Hippochondriac

• Mr Wilson’s Second Liners

• Ruck & Roll

• Snap Happy Paparazzi

• Dodgy Boys

• Splodge-a-matic

Living Lampposts

The line-up for Earlestown Town Centre includes:

• Be Prepared Girl Guides

• Living Statue

• Man in a Box

• Sports Day

• Lego Grafitti

• Giant colouring wall

• Community performances