2017 marks the 41st anniversary of the Thursford Christmas Spectacular Show. Here are some interesting facts about the event that you probably didn’t know.
- The first ever Thursford Christmas show was actually a carol concert that took in place in an old farm shed. Around 50 people attended the event back then, and today, Thursford houses over 180,000 visitors from all over the country during the show days.
- The visitors per day average out to be 5,000.
- Thursford has a local population of only 205 (2011 Census).
- The show produces revenue worth £10 million which influences economical conditions positively.
- Thursford show is regarded to be the biggest Christmas show in Europe.
- Last year, the budget of the show was set at £4 million.
- 130 professionals including singers, musicians and dances put up around 85 staggering performances that are bound to keep you engrossed till the very end. Most of them are freelance professionals from across the world.
- Considering a single performance, around 3,240 costume items are required and utilised.
- Generally, the performers are dressed from head to toe in thousand ostrich feathers and more than ten thousand rhinestones.
- The show requires around 30,000 musical scores pages which are printed in 816 hours.
- Rehearsals start two months prior to the scheduled dates.
- The auditorium can seat 1,424 people.
- The stage of the show is set up in 8 weeks after 25 men put in efforts.
- In the year before last, around 37,000 ice-cream tubs were sold at Thursford during the festive season.
- The largest radio microphone system in Europe is deployed at the site of the show.
- Thursford generates power at its own generation station; the power produced is enough for running the whole show and cafés during a power outage.