Southport has also launched a culture programme of one year of the beautifully bizarre in its bid to attract tourists back to the city following the murder of young girls last summer.

In spring, the Merseyside town will become an outdoor ball as part of an outdoor spectacle by the French street theatre sensation Transe Express.

Other festivals are a special immersive light and sound installation in February, a big top circus festival in May, the British Musical Fireworks Championship, and a literary festival in October.

The four-season festival is scheduled to attract tourists and enhance the economy of the town following the killing of three young girls in one of the Taylor Swift dance workshops on 29 July 2024.

Marion Atkin, the Labour leader of the Sefton council, added that the victims of the attack did not want Southport, a town that greatly depends on summer tourism, to lose.

She said, “Earlier this year there will always be the memory of what happened, but that does not have to define us.”

It is the launch of the Southport 2026: “Elegantly Eccentric” programme and a contemporary reprise of the 1936 painting Southport for a Holiday in Wintertime by Fortunino Matania with local business owners.

According to Patrick Hurley, the Southport MP, “There has been a long-held reputation of Southport in the north of England, where it has been known to be refined. The Elegantly Eccentric vision fits that spirit perfectly, and modernizes it to match the 2020s.”

After a drop during the past few decades, Southport is now considerably determined to be on the rise again. The vision of the culture in 2026 and further in the years to come will be one of celebrating creativity, promise, and the pride we all have in our unique town.

“I take immense pride in wanting to be a part of Southport 2026 and the individuals who are transforming this grand, gorgeous vision into reality, and I will make sure that the best days of Southport are ahead of it.”

Southport is more than a century and a half old; in that time, it has welcomed scores of visitors as different as Napoleon III, Judy Garland, and day-trippers. The Victorians could watch camel racing on the beach and parading elephants along the main business street, Lord Street, and street performers diving off the now closed pier.

The associate director of culture in the Liverpool city region, Claire McColgan CBE, said, “The following year’s cultural programme would be based on the rich history of the town. It was an entertainment centre and fun-filled place for generations, and now we want locals and outsiders to come and revisit what this gem on the shore has to offer,” she said.

The first event will be in February with an immersive light and sound installation of international artists Lucid Creates, which will make the town a walk through a rainbow of colour and creativity, according to the Sefton council.

Transe Express will roll out its open-air spectacular, Cristal Palace, in April, which includes a 15-metre-wide flying chandelier, live music, aerial performance, and dance.

Circus performances, including those of Circa and Gandini Juggling, will follow in the next month, with the town hosting a summer of food and drink festivals, flower shows, air displays, and the British Musical Fireworks Competition.

In October, the programme will next focus on reading with a re-invented literature festival with families and young readers. Storytelling installations and live performances, run by authors, will fill Southport during the half-term holidays.