The details of this year’s Christmas celebrations in Inverness have been revealed.
Excitement will build in Falcon Square, right outside the Eastgate Shopping Centre, from Sunday November 17 when the Window Wonderland is to open and provide festive joy for all including chair swing rides for children and Alpine huts selling an array of gifts and goodies from bratwursts to cheese, chocolate and Christmas gifts.
And for those attending the winter wonderland, a surprise visit will take place as Santa is scheduled to drop in to say hello before taking up residence in his Beauty and the Beast Grotto.
Arriving in the square at midday, old Saint Nick will be accompanied by his trusty band of reindeer who have flocked all the way from the Cairngorms.
The grotto will remain open each Thursday to Sunday until December 22, raising money for the Highland Hospice in the process.
In a bid to attract more shoppers to embrace the festive cheer, bosses at the Eastgate Centre have announced fixed rates for car parking facilities with parking free on Thursday’s after 5pm.
Motorists parking at the shopping centre on Sunday’s will be charged the flat rate of £2 until December 22.
The Window Wonderland event – the city’s shopping centre announced a new sponsor partnership with the Cairngorm Group – coincides with the turning on of the city’s Christmas lights as the much-loved parade will depart through the streets of Inverness at 5pm.