It often comes as a surprise, but Stowmarket Carnival isn’t run by the Council. Instead, it’s brought to life each year by a small but dedicated team of unpaid volunteers.
This hardworking Committee doesn’t just plan the fun-filled Carnival weekend, they also spend the entire year fundraising to make it happen! With costs now reaching around £30,000 annually, that’s no easy feat!
While both Stowmarket Town Council and Mid Suffolk District Council have offered fantastic support over the years, the majority of the funding comes from local business sponsorships and the Committee’s own tireless efforts.
With changes in local government on the horizon and the uncertainty of future council funding, the time has come for us to aim for financial independence. That means community support is more important than ever, every penny (or pound) counts!
We updated our fundraising message to reflect this in July 2025 in our A Quid for Your Carnival.
For more information on Carnival Finances, please read on . . .
Thanks to Polstead Press for the artwork & image.
How did we do?
Running the Carnival cost just over £30,000 this year. Thanks to generous sponsorships, fundraising events, and the incredible support of our community, we raised more than £33,000 over the year. That means we ended up with a small surplus, which is already helping us get a head start on planning for 2026.
As of 1st September 2025, the start of our new financial year, we have just under £7,000 in the bank, after settling a few final costs from the 2024/25 season.
If you’d like to take a closer look at the numbers, we’re more than happy to share the details. Just get in touch.
Where did the money go?
Ever wonder how each pound is spent on making the Stowmarket Carnival happen? There’s a lot of detail involved, so here’s a simple breakdown of how every £100 was used in 2025:
£55 on Music, acts, etc on the Rec
£17 on Procession costs
£14 on Advertising and Promotion (inc printing costs)
£8 on Admin costs (website, workwear, etc)
£3 on General fundraising in the year (raffle prizes etc)
£3 on the Grand Draw
How does this compare with 2024? Like everyone else, we’ve felt the pinch this year . . . Costs have gone up across the board! For every £100 spent this year (2025), last year (2024) we only spent £83, that’s a 17% increase in overall costs!
We’ve visualised the changes below, with this year’s costs in blue and last year’s in pink, so you can see where the increases happened most.
While much of the rise in costs was due to general price increases, two key changes made a noticeable difference this year:
- We boosted the number of arena acts, which pushed our spend on non-music acts at the Rec up from £8 to £13 per £100.
- This year we received increased sponsorship, so to celebrate the fantastic support from our local sponsors we expanded our Carnival Programme from 36 to 48 pages. Naturally, this also raised printing costs from £6 to £10 per £100 spent.
So, that’s where the money went… but what about the income side of things? Let’s take a look at how we did bringing in the funds.
Where did our money come from?
Using the same breakdown as our costs, for every £100 we spent in 2025 we raised £108 — meaning we had an £8 surplus that is already helping to fund Carnival 2026.
Here’s where our income came from in 2024/25:
£44 Sponsorship & discounts from local businesses
£27 Grants from Mid Suffolk & Stowmarket Town Councils
£18 from commercial Stalls on the Rec
£12 general fundraising throughout the year
£4 Procession Red Bucket collection
£3 Grand Draw
How does this compare with 2024? Using this year’s spend as a base line, last year we spent £83 against an income of £82, taking the extra pound out of our savings.
What changes do we expect for 2026?
Costs aren’t going down, that is certain!
That means for the 2026 Carnival, we’ll need to make careful choices about what we can afford to deliver. As mentioned earlier, the upcoming local government reorganisation could impact the funding the Carnival receives, so it’s more important than ever that we work towards financial independence from Council grants.
In 2025, through our own efforts we managed to raise £81 for every £100 spent, but that still isn’t quite enough. If costs rise to (say) £105 in 2026, we’ll either need to raise significantly more funds or regrettably scale back some elements of the event.
Everything we do depends heavily on the generosity of local businesses, whether that’s through direct sponsorship, significant discounts, or even free services!
One of the significant challenges is that planning the Carnival is a bit like organising a wedding: to secure the best acts, suppliers, and services, we need to book well in advance. From venues to musicians and everything in between, early commitments are essential to make the event a success! While our financial position is certainly stronger than it was in the years following the dreaded Covid lockdowns, the reality is that our current bank balance will only just cover our basic admin costs for 2026, like website hosting, insurance, licenses etc.
This means we have a huge job on our hands… we must start raising funds for 2026 now! So, we’re kicking things off early with our fantastic Ska night featuring Rude & Reckless! Join us at Carbon Nightclub on November 14th 2025, for a night you won’t forget! Then visit us on Sunday 30th November, in our usual festive spot at Red Gables for Stowmarket’s Christmas Fayre.
Stay tuned and follow us on social media for all the latest updates and event details. Find us on Facebook (Stowmarket Carnival) or Instagram (@stowcarnival)!
So please come out and support us, together we can keep the Carnival tradition alive!
