Large crowds flocked to a Wiltshire town for a “unifying” celebration of colour that dates back over a century.

The Devizes Confetti Battle was held on Saturday, August 19, and visitors were joined by the runners from the annual Colour Rush as people packed out the Market Place.

The hugely popular event was organised by Devizes Outdoor Celebratory Arts (DOCA) and kicked off a fortnight of preparations building up to the town’s Carnival Parade on September 2.

DOCA’s assistant director, Annabel Lake, was thrilled with the success of this year’s event.

She said: “Our feeling is that it went really well, and we’ve had amazing feedback from people who were there.

“The confetti battle brings everyone together and is really unifying because it doesn’t matter where you’re from or how old you are, it’s a real honour for us to organise it.

The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald: The Devizes Confetti Battle

“We couldn’t do it without our team of volunteers they put so much into it to make it great.”

The confetti battle is a much-loved tradition in Devizes dating back to the old Devizes Carnival in 1913, when confetti and rose petals were thrown by the crowd at people in the procession.

This eventually evolved into the battle after it was founded by Jim Jennings around 1955 and now draws huge crowds of people to the town centre each year.

While DOCA do not yet have attendance figures from the “busy” confetti battle, the much newer colour rush event had a record number of entrants.

The colour rush sees runners complete a 5km route around the town, starting at Green Lane Playing Fields, before getting “pelted with paint” as they complete their journey at the Market Place.

After the success of both the confetti battle and the colour rush, DOCA are now looking ahead to the Devizes Carnival.

Ms Lake added: “We’re making the parade as long and as fabulous as possible and we’ve taken all the organisation out of it for people.”

The theme of this year’s carnival, which will begin at The Green, will be the environment, with participants urged to use either recycled or upcycled materials for their costumes, masks and floats.

DOCA are working with artists and creatives from across the town to facilitate a week full of free summer workshops leading up to the big day.

These will be based at the Wharf Theatre.