“It’s the wrong time to make a decision!” Spalding Flower Parade organiser Stephen Timewell wants to see event return next year, but doesn’t know if he’ll be at the helm

The organiser of the Spalding Flower Parade wants to see the event return next year - but doesn’t know whether he will be the person at the helm.

Stephen Timewell says he needs ‘time to calm down and recover’ before making any commitments about a return in 2025.

Tens of thousands of revellers lined the town’s streets on Saturday (May 11) to watch this year’s ‘bigger and better’ parade, which has seen an additional 50-odd companies already show interest in taking part in the event next year.

Stephen and his team of volunteers brought back the popular parade last year following a decade-long absence, with many revellers hoping a third installment of the reboot can be added to their diaries.

“I’m not in a position to say at the moment,” Stephen explained.

“It’s the wrong time to make a decision about the future because we’re all so tired, exhausted and elated about this one.

“We need time to calm down, recover and then, as a community team, we discuss where we go from here.”

Despite joking he’d ‘be assassinated’ if he pulled the plug on the parade, Stephen added that he hopes the event can once again become an annual highlight in the Spalding calendar.

“If I step down or took a bit of a back seat, it would be lovely if someone stepped up,” he continued.

“It’d be nice to keep it going, without a doubt.

“The first year was exhausting and this second year was twice as exhausting. It was basically twice as big. We had a two-day event instead of one. We haven’t stopped.”

Speaking to LincsOnline yesterday (Monday), Stephen and his band of volunteers were already into the cleaning up process.

Today is a rest day for the team before the work of taking the floats apart begins tomorrow (Wednesday).

However, there was still time to reflect on a glorious weekend.

“It was bigger and better than last year without any doubt at all,” continued Stephen, who led the parade on foot dressed as a ringmaster.

“There was a phenomenal response from everybody, and again the team of volunteers put in a whole year of work and it paid off thanks to their thousands and thousands of man hours.

“I put so much demand on the volunteers they’re just incredible.”

“But it was a fantastic event and that’s the only reason we do it. We don’t do it for financial reward, as there is none. I don’t do it for the praise, I don’t want to be famous.

“But when I walk around and see all them smiling faces and kids laughing and joking, that’s it. All I ever wanted.”

This weekend’s parade built on the success of last year’s return, and has already caught the imagination of more people who hope to take part if the event returns next year.

Read all the coverage from this year’s Spalding Flower Parade here.

“The first year there were some doubters and it took a lot of people by surprise,” Stephen added.

“Already I’ve probably had 50 enquiries from new companies wanting to be part of the parade next year. That’s without the ones this year who want to come again.

“But we’ve got to be very careful as we could be a victim of our own success if it gets too big, like Christmas Market in Lincoln, and it all goes wrong.

“We have to be very careful we don’t get too ambitious or too confident.”

The Best Float award went to Laura Hudson’s Little Mermaid-inspired entry, with the Best Small Float title handed to the Alice in Wonderland-themed entry by A. Phoenix Care.

“Every single float was amazing,” Stephen added.

“They were all stunning, every single one.”