Rugged up festival goers were treated to the liveliest — and literally the longest — grand parade as hundreds of colourful characters marched from the bottom of Katoomba Street to the new festival precinct in Bathurst Road, ending with a rhythmic blaze of drummers and belly dancers.

The procession included all sorts of witches, trolls and Roman gladiators, but also floats featuring school children, community organisations and scores of protesters about issues including climate change, maternity services, koala enclosures and bowling club closures.

A nice touch was the participation of more than 20 residents from the Sylvanvale Foundation dressed as fairies, kings and mythical characters — nine of whom had their wheelchairs pushed up the hill by Katoomba Rugby League Club players.

Community initiatives manager at Sylvanvale Foundation, David Cretney, said it was great to have so much support from the community.

“It really showed what a magical place the Blue

Mountains is.

“We would like to thank Jodie Turner and the boys from the Katoomba Devils for doing such a great job and also the Brahma Kumaris Centre, Wentworth Falls Soccer Club, Winter Magic Festival organisers Warren Ross and Shane Jeffery (parade director) and the Blue Mountains community, whose smiles and cheers along the parade’s path made it such a wonderful event for us.”

Rain fell intermittently from that point on, but Katoomba Street remained a buzz of activity with locals and visitors enjoying live music, food and gift stalls and many quirky treats by street performers and magicians.

Popular indoor venues were the Carrington Hotel and St Hilda’s Church hall for music lovers and the Katoomba Civic Centre for children’s and magic shows.

Shops enjoyed a booming trade as did restaurants and bars well into the night, ending with a zombie dress up ball at the Carrington Hotel, whose main bar was delicately draped in spider webs as thick as the fog outside.