June 30, 2021 1.42 pm This story is over 33 months old

First imps up in the city ready for the Lincoln Imp Trail

The Lincoln Imp Trail starts on July 3

The first cheeky sculptures started to pop up in the city on Wednesday ahead of the Lincoln Imp Trail, which begins this weekend.

Thirty imps, designed by national and local artists, will be on display throughout Lincoln, while one will be at the Hildreds Centre in Skegness.

The event starts on July 3 and encourages people to go on a hunt through Lincoln that will end on September 16. This comes after the much anticipated event was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic last year.

Imps are already in place at St Marks Shopping Centre, outside the LPAC, near the Minerva Building at the University of Lincoln, on the High Street, and close to St Mary le Wigford church.

Other locations include the Cornhill Quarter, Steep Hill, Lincoln Cathedral and the Stonebow. Here they are:

Check out where to find the 30 imps on this year’s trail. | Photo: Lincoln Imp Trail

They will all be in place by the end of Thursday, July 1, while the Educational Trail imps, which were decorated by schools across Lincolnshire, will be launched next week.

There will also be five community ‘roaming’ imps that move among shops in Lincoln. One of them, Wind, was adopted by The Lincolnite and is arguably the most travelled of his friends having visited Fantasy Island in Skegness, Grimsby, and even on a boat in Lincoln.

Wind the community Imp couldn’t wait to go to Fantasy Island, especially for the new ride ‘The Spinning Racer’. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

Once the Lincoln Imp Trail is finished, there will be an event at Lincoln Castle between September 17-23, ahead of an auction on Lincolnshire Day on October 1.

Funds raised from the auction will be donated to the charity partner of the event, St Barnabas Hospice.

In a vote set up by The Lincolnite, Steam Explorer, which was designed by artist Rosie Ablewhite, was the public’s favourite of the imps, with Lizzy Mason’s Majestic imp coming second.