SWITCHING on the lights will just be the start of the festive fun in Kidderminster with events extending throughout the holiday season.

Once the town is illuminated this Saturday, the spotlight will also be on plenty of street entertainment.

The Chuck Harriet Jazz Band will perform the following weekend on Saturday, November 24, from noon until 2.30pm outside the town hall.

The next week, on Saturday, December 1, families will have the opportunity to meet and greet children’s favourites Ben and Holly from Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom outside the town hall at noon, 1pm, 2pm, 3pm and 4pm.

The following Tuesday, December 4, St George’s VC CE Primary School choir will perform for crowds outside the Swan Centre from 2pm.

A feast of entertainment will be on show throughout Kidderminster town centre on Saturday, December 8, with stilt walkers, jugglers, face painters and popular music-playing trio Los Cumbancheros to warm those doing their Christmas shopping around the town.

That Saturday will also feature “wildlife around town,” inside the town hall from 10am until noon. Wyre Forest District Council’s ranger service will talk about which wildlife can be found around Kidderminster.

Santa will be the special guest, giving out wildlife prizes as well as offering face painting and a crazy wildlife quiz.

On Tuesday, December 11, the Red Snappers Jazz Band will have Christmas shoppers swinging in the Bull Ring outside the Swan Centre from 11am until 2pm.

Performing arts groups, music, dance and drama by students from Kidderminster College will be entertaining Christmas shoppers on Tuesday, December 11 on the streets outside Kidderminster Town Hall from 11.30am until 2.30pm.

There will be more fun the following Saturday, December 15, when a magical family show, The Snow Queen, presented by Sideways Theatre, takes place in the Rowland Hill Shopping Centre between 11am and 12.15pm.

Kidderminster solo artist Laura Broad, who stunned crowds with her voice at last year’s Christmas lights switch-on, will perform a variety of pop songs from noon until 2.30pm outside the town hall.

The music will continue in the town on Tuesday, December 18, when the Ridge Top Mountain Boys bring blue grass, Americano-style tunes to the Swan Centre from noon until 2.30pm.

As residents prepare for their visit from Santa, the final Saturday before Christmas, December 22, will see circus entertainment in and around the town centre from 11am until 3pm.

It will feature juggling, weird and wonderful bicycles and stilt walking by Steve Kaos.

Between 11am and 1pm on the same day, children’s performances of break dancing and urban fusion by Whyley Dance Group will take place outside the town hall.

For more information on festive events in the town, visit the website at wyreforestdc.gov.uk/ festive