BLANDFORD’S Yuletide Festival will return to the Market Place on December 11.

The 2013 event will take place from 4pm until 9pm, with a host of things to do for all the family throughout the evening.

It will mark two years since the 2011 festival, when fireworks shot into a packed crowd, injuring around five people, including a baby.

But the chairman of the festival committee, Tim Storey, said the event was continuing to improve every year.

“Each year, the festivals have been bigger and better as the community gets caught up with the spirit of the occasion. The 2013 event is shaping up to be the best yet,” he said.

The festival will be sponsored by brewers Hall and Woodhouse once again.

Chair Mark Woodhouse said: “We are pleased to be able to support the Yuletide Festival again in 2013 and are looking forward to being a part of another enjoyable and exciting evening.”

Last December, the organisers of the event told the Daily Echo that it would feature “the highest levels of safety” following the 2011 display.

Some of those standing in the crowd received minor injuries after rockets being set off from the top of a scaffolding tower at the rear of the Corn Exchange were accidentally placed sideways.

This year, children from the town’s primary schools will lead a lantern procession at 6.30pm from the Langton Road car park.

The Band of the Royal Corps of Signals in Blandford Forum, accompanied by the Shaftesbury Town Band and the Stour Valley Brass Band, will lead communal carol singing outside the Parish Church at 7pm, together with the Garrison Community Choir and the Playsongs Mums Choir.

There will also be late-night shopping, a visit from the Anonymous Market, an Italian market and farmers’ market, fairground rides and street displays.

The firework display will begin at 8.30pm.