The centre of a Moray town was packed at the weekend to herald the beginning of festive celebrations in the region.
More than 4,000 people rammed Cluny Square in Buckie to make the sixth Christmas Kracker the busiest yet.
Festive revellers began arriving in the town centre for entertainment in the morning with crowds continuing to swell until the darkness fell for the firework celebrations.
Emmerdale actor Anthony Quinlan, better known as Pete Barton from the soap, threw the switch to illuminate the festive lights in the town on Saturday.
But without doubt the biggest attraction of the day was the Paw Patrol gang. Hundreds of children queued up to have their picture taken with the television characters.
Elgin dad Daniel Last took his two-year-old son Eddie to Buckie especially to see the stars of his favourite show.
Mr Last said: “He was very impatient to see them. There was a big queue in the cold but it was well worth it. He was very excited to see them.
“The other thing he enjoyed was seeing the big fire engine – but I think that was because there’s one in Paw Patrol.”
With cars banned from the streets for the day it was hand-made vehicles that powered through the town centre roads.
Wagon “Q Bee”, made by Jake Innes and Liam McKechnie, won the kertie race to claim the spoils ahead of six rivals.
On stage the Buckie Community Choir sang carols to get the crowd in the festive spirit while fairground rides were kept busy.
Once the sun set and the temperature began to drop the music was ramped up a notch with Toni and Ziggy getting the audience moving.
A squadron of 20 volunteers was out in force to ensure Buckie’s big day went off smoothly.
Gordon Cowie, vice-chairman of the organising committee, said: “It went well. The boy from Emmerdale was great fun and went down really well.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better day for it. There must have been at least 4,000 people there for it. It takes all year to organise and that really makes it worthwhile.”
