The centre of Bradford was a melting pot of sights and sounds as the year-long Illuminate Festival came to a dazzling close yesterday.

City Hall was a blaze of multicoloured light from nightfall until midnight and hundreds of people braved the autumnal weather to watch as French light artist Patrice Warrener lit it up with specialised technology. It will be lit up like this for the next ten days.

Cameras of all shapes and sizes were out to capture City Hall in its new guise and many children posed for pictures on the steps of City Hall.

And the BBC big screen was taken over by Bradford for the night as people sent over their own photos from their mobile phones which were then put up on the screen.

Throughout the day, inside two Mongolian yurts (tents), there were live music performances and music workshops.

Global Bazaar was a fusion of East meets West as tabla and sitar musicians played alongside harpists and fiddle players.

Tony Liddington, director of Manningham's Promenade Promotions which put on the bazaar, said: "I have been involved in festival events for 16 years and events like this are the life-blood of the city.

"It's all about community and cohesion, but most of all it's fun, it's real and it's live."

Bradford-born artist Liza Dracup brought the night-time glow of the woods to the city, by presenting her photographs as large-scale light boxes.

For those interested in the psychology of colour, and what colour says about them, there was the Chromavan.

The van had a large colour screen, where people were invited to soak in pure colour, and learn how colour affects their body and emotions.

In a multi-player, multi-site game, Bradfordians were invited to use their bodies to send balls of light into other Yorkshire cities.

The cities involved were those that had been united throughout the year as part of the festival and included Hull, Leeds, Sheffield and York. The area surrounding Centenary Square was kept alive well into the night with Bradford Central Library and the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television having special late-night openings.

Estelle Widdowson, 34, from Bradford, said: "I'm a member of Ilkley camera group and I've come her to get some good photographs of City Hall when it's lit up."

Scott Barden, 34, of Great Horton said: "I really like the music. I went to the Mela in Leeds earlier in the year and thought the Pakistani music was amazing. I wish there were more events like this."

And Narider Williams, 31, of Wyke, said: "It's an event that's happening here and now, in recent years lots has been happening in Bradford - it seems that now people are giving Bradford a chance."

Illuminate, supported by the Millennium Commission and the Arts Council, was set up after Liverpool claimed the City of Culture 2008, a title which Bradford had also applied for.

Yorkshire was handed £4 million to invest in cultural projects and over the last year Illuminate was the fruit of Yorkshire's labour.

There have been performances relating to famous Bradfordians, including Delius's music, exhibitions of David Hockney art and the successful Radical Brontes festival.

David Wilson, of Bradford Council, the interim director of Illuminate said: "This is hopefully the stepping stone for us.

"We want to say look at what we have done in Yorkshire, now we want to entertain people from round the world - the city is alive and kicking."

e-mail: newsdesk @bradford.newsquest.co.uk