Modbury’s annual nine-day May Fair is in full swing, with the theme ‘It’s Easy Being Green’ seeing a celebration of nature and colour throughout the town.

The theme was chosen to celebrate the town’s tenth anniversary of being Britain’s first plastic bag free town and began on Saturday, April 29 with a treasure hunt.

On May Day itself, the morning saw the traditional glove hanging and royalty crowning, with a ceremony involving Modbury’s long-serving town crier, David Scott, with chair of Modbury Parish Council, Bernard Taylor hanging the glove and crowning the royalty.

Modbury’s May Queen is Mykala Tall and the May King is Nathaniel Gamblin, and the attendants are Zara Fleming, Bryony Penally, Ben Lewis and Edward Tidd. Modbury’s Royalty took up their home in a spectacular float with a woodland theme, wearing crowns of ivy and flowers.

By the afternoon, the heaven’s cleared and the sun appeared, in time for the afternoon’s main event, the carnival procession, with music from Somerset’s Steel the Show band filling Church Street.

The procession saw a great selection of green-themed costumes and floats. The overall winner of the carnival procession was Phil Ainsley, for his interpretation of Modbury’s famous green box - an old telephone cable connection box, a defining landmark in the middle of the town for decades.

The pedestrian winners were Lilou Dwyer, Amelia Spencer, Phil Ainsley, Iris Lee-Symons and Zelah Hibbard, Sandra Lugger, Modbury County Primary School and Lilly Hardy.

The overall winner of the floats was the Modbury Club; with Modbury Pre-School and 1st Modbury Brownies also receiving recognition.

There was a performance from Modbury School Choir, performing a new composition by local composer, John Ashton-Thomas. John wrote ’Modbury Plastic Bag Song 2017’ for Modbury Primary School children, in response to a request from members of the community who wanted to celebrate the tenth anniversary of being plastic bag free. The song is written from the perspective of a future free from pollution.

Modbury shopkeepers came up with imaginative ways to decorate their shop windows with the ’It’s Easy Being Green’ theme. Keep an eye out for recycled shampoo bottle flowers and bees, an old bag lady, recycling facts and an array of green products and decorations. The winner of the shop window competition will be announced at 11am on Saturday, 6 May.

There Modbury Mile Fun Day was as popular as ever, with many people taking part in fancy dress. The overall winner was Joe Craig from the ‘boys 13-16’ category, who was also the ‘fastest local’. The ‘men’s open’ was won by Louis Brace; ‘boys under 13’ by Aaron Horton; ‘men 40+’ by David Marshall; ‘men 50+’ by James Thomas; ‘ladies open’ by Polly Ainsley; ‘girls 13-16’ by Poppy Edwards; ‘girls under 13’ by Mykala Tall; ‘ladies 35+’ by Sarah Walker; and ‘ladies 50+’ by Sarah Gill. The ‘best dressed green runners’ were selected as Lilly Hardy, Finlay Gaches, Isaac Gaches and Poppy Edwards.

May Fair chairwoman Liz Edwards said: "Every year I’m always amazed by the ingenious ideas that people come up with at the carnival parade. It’s always such a happy event and that’s what makes it so special.

"It’s also been good to mark the fact that it’s been ten years since we stopped using plastic bags in the town. We live in a beautiful part of the world and we need to do everything we can to keep it that way."

The festivities continue until Sunday, May 7, with a May Fair family service at St George’s church at 9.30am, and a selection of Modbury Fair Walks for people meeting at the QEII pavilion at 9am.

On Saturday, May 6 at 7.30pm there will be a ‘Sounds Recycled’ music night by the Modbury Players, with a sing-along of songs from Mamma Mia! and the Sound of Music at Modbury Memorial Hall. Tickets are available on the door, with all proceeds going to the Modbury May Fair fund, which will go towards paying for next year’s event.