Paisley welcomes thousands as Halloween Festival kicks off

Paisley’s Halloween Festival – one of the biggest and best of its kind in the UK – got under way earlier tonight, with crowds of thousands gathering for the annual spooktacular.

The town centre was turned into a gothic playground with specially-created installations, sensational street performers, and aerial acrobats, set against the stunning backdrop of Paisley’s 850-year-old Abbey.

Paisley has become Scotland’s home of Halloween in recent years and this was the first of three nights of the free-to-attend event.

The festival is on again on Friday and Saturday, from 5pm to 9pm each night, with the same programme of performers, including returning festival favourites such as Spark! LED Drummers and the flame-throwing PyroCeltica.

This year’s event saw a new and improved event layout – with a Halloween Trail Zone, including interactive fire show, a bat cave and a raven’s realm, as a walk-through one-way system around the outside of the Abbey.

Elsewhere, professional and community performers delighted the crowds in the Live Performance Zone around Paisley Cross, with other attractions including a haunted funfair, street food and a toast-your-own marshmallow pit.

Full programme info – including a list of performance times – is at www.paisley.is/halloween. Anyone attending is advised to plan ahead.

The event is staged by Renfrewshire Council in partnership with internationally-renowned circus performance specialists Cirque Bijou, and supported by EventScotland as part of their national events programme.