Cherished Preston Egg Rolling returns to Avenham Park this Easter - full family day details
Join the family fun as Preston's cherished Easter egg rolling festival returns to Avenham Park this Easter Monday with exciting performances and workshops.
Preston's iconic Easter tradition is returning to Avenham Park, with the beautiful green space transforming into a lively festival of fun, creativity, and entertainment for all ages.
Egg rolling first began in 1867 and involved rolling decorated eggs, known as pace-eggs, down grassy hills. A Lancashire custom, pace-eggs were traditionally decorated by wrapping the eggs in onion skins and boiling them to give the shells a golden mottled effect.
Children would then roll their pace-eggs down the hills and see who could get theirs the furthest without it breaking. Today, the event mainly sees a more modern version of rolling chocolate eggs down its steep slopes.
This year’s egg rolling festival will return to Preston on Easter Monday (April 6), between 11.00am and 4.00pm.
The event offers families the chance to take part in the tradition, as well as enjoying a full day of performances and workshops. The iconic egg rolling will take place throughout the day, on the hour, every hour.
What’s on?
Preston City Council said this year’s entertainment will be ‘spectacular’, with the legendary Blunderfudge from Circus Fudge performing wacky tricks, musical washing machines, and the infamous ironing board of death.
Bee-yond the Garden Gate will bring together clowning, juggling, and acrobatics in a high-energy spectacle celebrating the magic of friendship, while Desert Island Discs by Artizani takes audiences on a tropical island journey.
Complete with palm trees, a slackrope, and a twenty-foot inflatable lobster, the show follows a castaway navigating hilarious challenges before an unforgettable helicopter rescue.
Visitors can also experience Dr Jones & Professor Barnard's Medicine Show, a theatrical throwback to travelling medicine shows full of music, comedy, and fantastical cures.
The magic continues with roaming Shrinking Violets, a walkabout act blending floral costumes and bubble magic.
Cultural highlights include the Preston City Mela performances, featuring the Abhinandana Dance Academy with classical, folk, and Bollywood fusion dances, the energetic drumming from PR Dholis, and the Raas and Garba dances from the Gujarat Hindu Society.
Throughout the day, families can take part in hands-on creative workshops. Activities include Warli painting, fabric recycling crafts, Ebru Marbling, calligraphy, silk painting, and traditional henna art.
Councillor Hindle, Cabinet Member of Culture and Arts at Preston City Council, said: "This year's Egg Rolling event promises to be a memorable day for the whole community.
“Whether participating in the egg rolls, enjoying live performances, or joining in arts and crafts, visitors can enjoy the beautiful park setting and make the most of one of Preston's most cherished Easter traditions."