Crowd of 20,000 delight in parade's mixture of the weird and wonderful

AN ESTIMATED 20,000 people turned out in Waterford yesterday as camels, giraffes, penguins and even a water-spouting elephant had them wondering if the morning deluge of rain meant that Noah had decided to ship off to sunnier climes.

However, it quickly became clear that arts organisation Spraoi was up to its old tricks, bringing Mr Menagerie and his Clockwork Creatures on a parade along the streets that circle the People’s Park. To warm applause, the surreal parade, in the new Spraoi in the Park festival, mixed the weird and wonderful, while the sun negotiated with looming clouds. Nuns, priests, burlesque dancers, schoolchildren and brass band members combined to give a heady mix of colour to the parade.

The fun-filled madness worked its way along Park Road, Water Street, South Parade, The Mall, up Lombard Street and William Street, finally arriving back at the beginning, Waterpark School on Newtown Road.

Newly elected Mayor Cllr John Halligan set a good example by volunteering as a steward for the parade. Then, it was into the park itself for more fun. It was here, over the weekend, that bands played music as diverse as jazz, soul, grunge and reggae.

The city’s park was brought to life with flower power as children were given the opportunity to create a huge artificial flower bed.

An 800sq m inflatable sculpture featuring labyrinthine tunnels and domes was a major attraction over the weekend. The Levity II luminarium had hundreds of children queuing on the afternoons of the festival, which began on Thursday and ended last night.

It has been more than a decade since the Spraoi parade has had an afternoon slot and it is the first time that the event has taken place separately from the August bank holiday festival.

Other aspects of the festival, including street theatre and live music, will continue in the city during the August bank holiday weekend.

Welcoming Spraoi in the Park, Spraoi director TV Honan said: “The People’s Park is a fantastic amenity in Waterford and it being so near the city centre makes it a great space for us to work in over the first weekend in July.

“But we’ll have a particularly crazy four weeks getting set for the annual Spraoi Festival to be held in our traditional slot from July 31st to August 2nd.”