Town Councillors in Midsomer Norton recently faced the difficult decision of how best to meet the funding demands of two important events – the town's Christmas event and carnival – both of which are for the first time scheduled to take place in the town centre within weeks of each other. As long-term residents will know, carnival used to be the highlight of the Autumn season. However, it has faced a number of challenges since its launch in 1948. Even when carnival was revived in 1975, the town has never been able to regain full county status, so floats don't lose points by not attending as they once would. Then, in the early 1990s, the carnival moved to Westfield who have kept it alive ever since. In the meantime, Midsomer Norton created a range of Christmas events which have been very popular, ranging from the Dickensian Evening through to the more recent Christmas Lantern Fayres. However, organising such large events has placed heavy demands on volunteers from the Chamber of Commerce and the wider community. "The Midsomer Norton and District Carnival Association was there at the table in 1948 as a founder of the Carnival Circuit. The case we put to Midsomer Norton Town Council was for the chance to grasp the opportunity of a change of dates to adopt a new route. Already we've attracted a large number of floats back for 2014. By securing the financial support of Midsomer Norton and Westfield, our plan is to put on a bigger and better carnival than ever before and pursue our ultimate objective of regaining our place in the Carnival Circuit," said Hazel Franklin of the Carnival Association. A number of points arose in the Midsomer Norton Town Council debate. Firstly, that the carnival had the potential to draw huge crowds in the long term – particularly if it could entice other residents of B&NES. This could in turn help promote Midsomer Norton and the Somer Valley, not just for one night, but throughout the whole year, which could benefit the local economy. Secondly, the Christmas event takes a huge amount of community effort to pull together. Councillors were concerned that given the crucial need to prove the viability of carnival this year, there was a real danger of overstretching volunteers in the town and failing to deliver if both events are attempted in full. Thirdly, the Christmas event involved spending thousands on things like reindeer from the Cairngorms, which saw money go out of the community. By funding the carnival, far more money would be going into local community organisations – plus the carnival has always raised large amounts of money for local charities. Faced with such a compelling case from the Carnival Association, Midsomer Norton Town Councillors voted to increase the carnival funding from £5,000 to £11,500, but felt very strongly that £3,500 be retained for Christmas to fund a smaller scale event this year, focused around the lights switch-on. Having secured the support of Midsomer Norton Town Council for carnival in 2014, the Midsomer Norton and District Carnival Association is now in a position to get the whole community behind the return of carnival and deliver on the hopes for a glittering future.