Scarborough Marine Drive the history board 6

In order to meet the cost of the Marine Drive project, the town council needed to make more money from the new road than could be raised from tolls alone; there was also a desire to provide additional entertainments for both residents and visitors. Even before the official opening in August 1908, events were being staged near the cafe. Confetti carnivals involved people watching events such as pierrot and band performances, fancy dress competitions and firework displays as well as throwing confetti at each other. Some of the more active participants in one such carnival in June 1908 looked as if they had been caught in a heavy snowstorm and parts of Marine Drive were deep in what looked like multicoloured snowflakes, the result of the colourful lighting employed.

Events continued to be staged on Marine Drive for some years after the First World War. These included band concerts, featuring well-known military and brass bands, dances, film shows and confetti carnivals, sometimes attended by several thousand people, some of whom paid extra for admission to the enclosure. Marine Drive has always been popular with fishermen and for years competitors in the town's angling festival fished from the promenade for part of the proceedings. One of the prizes was the Marine Drive Challenge trophy, presented to the person who caught the greatest amount of fish.

Motor cyclists and car drivers also participated in events on Marine Drive. During the town's carnival in September 1921, there was a motor cycle gymkhana involving competitors attempting to perform various tasks and tricks, some of them while actually riding their machines. Motor speed trials took place along Royal Albert Drive later in the same week. In the following year, 360 drivers entered the trials and it was claimed that this was the biggest event of the kind held north of Brooklands, the Surrey home of British motor racing.