THE community of St Austell was beaming with Cornish pride on Saturday, March 7, as the town celebrated the Duchy’s patron saint in fine style.

The town’s annual St Pirantide event enjoyed an impressive turnout and was backed by St Austell Town Council, St Austell BID (Business Improvement District), the White River Place shopping centre and Market House.

The parade, which was organised and lead by former Cornwall councillor Michael Bunney, saw the local community, as well as a number of musicians and organisations, march through St Austell town centre with plenty of visitors watching the procession.

Guest speakers at White River Place included Noah Law, Labour MP for St Austell and Newquay, St Austell mayor Colin Hamilton, deputy mayor Cllr Ethan Stephens, as well as local councillors Paul Ashton and Jack Yelland.

Throughout the day, visitors could enjoy browsing the various stalls on Fore Street and Market House, as well as listening to a number of music performances in the square.

Among those providing the music were Kescana, Bagas Crowd, The Drecklys, Richard Trethewey and Molly Biscoe, while entertainer Kenny Barnes volunteered to look after the sound on the day.

Running alongside the festivities was the first Kevrennow Festival at The White Hart, which was organised to mark the cultural, academic and economic connections between Cornwall and Wales.

A spokesperson for the event said: “I want to thank the people of St Austell and surrounding areas for turning out and supporting the St Austell St Piran's Day event.

“Numbers are increasing year on year and it makes organising the event worthwhile when we see the amount of people that attend and the smiles on your faces. For those of you that dressed up in nationalist tartan, you looked fabulous.”