As people queued around the block to get into this year’s Carny Ville at the former Bridewell police and fire station, passers-by appeared flummoxed. Many of those in the queue were as extravagantly dressed as the people they were about to see, with the instruction to come in Victorian costume followed by most of the crowd.

There were handlebar moustaches at every turn, top hats, corsets and basques. And as these ragtag characters waited patiently in line to be allowed in to the Island, they were entertained by jugglers, skaters and two young children dressed as tigers being pushed around in a pram with a cage on top.

Once inside, Victorian lampposts spouted fire, a bearded lady entertained the crowd from a makeshift stage, a large man in a red dress was on DJ duty, and old-fashioned funfair games with a twist provided welcome relief, that’s if you wanted to play ping pong against the devil or knock over dismembered heads in the coconut shy.

This was just what was taking place outside, in an area that once upon a time was where police cars parked and firemen trained for duty.

Now, out of one of the windows of the tower at the centre of the Island, an accordian player serenaded the crowd below; and nearby two acrobats first used two pieces of silk suspended 30ft up to perform a choreographed dance in the air, and then grew gasps with a death-defying trapeze routine.

Inside, everywhere you looked there was something new to make you laugh, smile or do a double take. Doug Francis and his cohorts from Artspace Lifespace and the Invisible Circus had done a quite fantastic job, with Doug reprising his role as ringmaster at the indoor circus with aplomb.

Elsewhere, characters mingled with the crowd – jesters, dancers, singers, acrobats and a priest reading a sermon from a travelling wooden pulpit.

There was also Pip’s Jukebox, a small box inside which Pip on his guitar could play any song you requested, as long as you didn’t mind it played in a country and western style. Two particular favourites were his takes on Mark Morrison and Jurassic 5.

Carny Ville attracted more than one thousand people to the Island during its four days in May, and has to be one of the most visually spectacular, bizarre and fantastical events that Bristol has ever seen.