THOUSANDS of people attended this year's Carnival Day in Penarth.

They gathered on The Esplanade and surrounding areas on Saturday for the highlight event of the town's summer festival.

Beginning at noon, various stalls sprung up along the seafront including Restaurant James Sommerin, Ty Hafan, the RNLI, and more.

A parade of classic cars made its way down Beach Road and along the Esplanade shortly around 1pm, before setting up camp on the cliff top.

Penarth Coastguard joined Penarth RNLI in a demonstration on the edge of Penarth Pier before the walking parade made its way down to The Esplanade and up towards the cliff top where there was a prize giving ceremony on stage for the best dressed participants.

Police and coastguard helicopters also gave a sea rescue demonstration, before attention turned to Cliff Hill for the highly-popular Downhill Derby.

There were three categories including under 12, under 16 and over 16.

The over 16 category saw the fastest time recorded by SMS with 29.9 seconds in the time trial.

But when it went down to the final three, the Cardiff Gas team ran out as eventual "Kings of the Hill" ahead of SMS and Hamptons.

The cadets from 2478 Abergavenny squadron won the under 16 category.

As evening approached, most of the crowds ventured up to the cliff top for music on the stage before making their way back down to the seafront for the firework finale on the pier at 10pm.

The event was organised by Penarth Town Council who said they had made a conscious effort to spread the events out so that the Esplanade was less crowded than in previous years.

A spokeswoman for the town council said: "The people of Penarth certainly did the town proud by supporting the Carnival Day 2016.

"Despite inclement weather, all generations enjoyed the highlights of the day, being the annual parade including the classic cars, the petting zoo in Windsor Gardens, the infamous downhill derby and of course the spectacular fireworks display to name a few.

"The town council will be working hard over the next few months to build upon this year’s event and will be outlining its plans for the 2017 festival via the Penarth Times and its website.

"Members and staff of the town council would like to thank everyone who participated and attended the event to make it such a memorable day."