![Town Crier Kevin Payne opening the event](https://www.creditoncourier.co.uk/tindle-static/image/2024/06/09/14/45/Town_Crier_Kevin_Payne_opening_the_event.jpg?width=669&height=445&crop=669:445)
CROWDS thronged Newcombes Meadow for the Big Boniface Bash in Crediton on Sunday, June 9.
![Parish Church choir singing Boniface Song](https://www.creditoncourier.co.uk/tindle-static/image/2024/06/09/14/27/Parish_Church_choir_singing_Boniface_Song.jpg?width=669&height=445&crop=669:445)
The free community fun day was held to celebrate St Boniface, who was born in Crediton in the seventh century AD and is the patron saint of Devon.
![The parade](https://www.creditoncourier.co.uk/tindle-static/image/2024/06/09/14/22/The_parade.jpg?width=669&height=445&crop=669:445)
Organised by Crediton Town Council and the Crediton Heart Project, the event saw a Saxon Fayre, live music, entertainers, games, European street food to celebrate Crediton’s links with the continent, falconry and more on offer throughout the afternoon.
![The parade](https://www.creditoncourier.co.uk/tindle-static/image/2024/06/09/14/31/The_parade.jpg?trim=0,0,0,0&width=669&height=445&crop=669:445)
Town Crier Kevin Payne opened the event, and Mayor of Crediton Guy Cochran gave a short speech, as did the Mayor of Dokkum in the Netherlands Johannes Kramer and the Deputy Mayor of Fulda in Germany.
![Children in Christmas tree costumes by St Boniface statue](https://www.creditoncourier.co.uk/tindle-static/image/2024/06/09/14/35/Children_in_Christmas_tree_costumes_by_St_Boniface_statue.jpg?width=669&height=445&crop=669:445)
Many children also dressed up as Christmas trees.
![St Boniface himself](https://www.creditoncourier.co.uk/tindle-static/image/2024/06/09/14/57/St_Boniface_himself.jpg?width=669&height=445&crop=669:445)
St Boniface is thought to have been the person who invented the Christmas tree tradition after a spruce grew from the roots of a tree he famously felled known as Thor’s Oak.
![Handing out Boniface buns](https://www.creditoncourier.co.uk/tindle-static/image/2024/06/09/14/27/Handing_out_Boniface_buns.jpg?trim=0,0,0,0&width=669&height=445&crop=669:445)
![People enjoying various stalls](https://www.creditoncourier.co.uk/tindle-static/image/2024/06/09/14/34/People_enjoying_various_stalls.jpg?width=669&height=445&crop=669:445)
![Morris dancers](https://www.creditoncourier.co.uk/tindle-static/image/2024/06/09/14/57/Morris_dancers.jpg?width=669&height=445&crop=669:445)
![David Buncle of Westcountry Falconry with Harris Hawk](https://www.creditoncourier.co.uk/tindle-static/image/2024/06/09/14/30/David_Buncle_of_Westcountry_Falconry_with_Harris_Hawk.jpg?width=669&height=445&crop=669:445)