BELFAST St PATRICK’S DAY PARADE info on Friday night for tomorrow, Saturday:
*The Parade begins at 11:30 It starts into Royal Avenue, goes through Donegall Place and then around City Hall.* Remember the parade is NOT starting at City Hall this year.
For participating groups wanting a reminder of where to go:– Please check emailed info for your specific details. Generally, most groups go TO REGISTRATION at WRITERS SQUARE, around 10:30am. Some will be getting costume there. When it is time to line up for the parade, Beat Stewards will show you where to go. The front of Parade will move out at 11:15 to end of Donegall Street, groups will start to feed in and Parade will then start from Donegall Street at 11:30am. Floats and some others assemble in ACADEMY STREET beside Art College. Registration there is around 10 / 10:30am. Some performers and groups will get changed & prepare at the MAC.
ROAD CLOSURES. The whole of Academy Street will be closed. Donegall Street will be closed between Royal Avenue and Talbot Street.
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• Bigger & Better •
BEAT CARNIVAL has been working with BELFASTCITY COUNCIL and GROUPS ACROSS BELFAST since 2006 to create spectacular, inclusive St PATRICK’S DAY PARADEs that are ‘made in Belfast’. The parades show a creative, fun and welcoming picture of Belfast City to the world. This year’s event is shaping up to be a big one – the biggest yet, with 900 paraders, including 9 music bands, 8 floats, carnival and circus entertainers and lots of giant puppets, props and specially made costume.
• New 2018 City-centre Route •
Watch the Parade from Central Library to City Hall. There is a new City-centre route for the St Patrick’s Carnival Parade on Saturday 17th March. Setting off at 11:30am, the parade will travel down Royal Avenue and Donegall Place, around City Hall and then back on the same route, finishing by 1pm.
• Global Belfast •
The 2018 theme is GLOBAL BELFAST. Parade sections depict Belfast around the world and the world in Belfast.
• Music Notes •
The Belfast Parade is normally topped and tailed with Pipe Bands and this year we are delighted to have two favourites back: The Major Sinclair Memorial and Croí an Dúin – Heart of Down.
THE MAJOR SINCLAIR MEMORIAL PIPE BAND
The Major Sinclair Memorial, based in Ballyclare, is named after Major John Maynard Sinclair the Ulster Unionist Finance minister who lost his life in the Princess Victoria ferry disaster in 1953. The band was formed in 1957 with amalgamation of two Belfast bands. The Sinclair wear the Black Stewart tartan and compete in competitions here and in Scotland. The band is focused on music and community – providing entertainment, teaching, opportunities to socialise and celebrating our culture and heritage in an inclusive and positive way.
CROI an DUIN PIPE BAND
Croi an Duin / Heart of Down Pipe Band are a County Down band based in the rural heartland of the Mournes. Formed in 2015 this popular music group has 20 members ranging from 7yrs to adults.
MR WILSON’S SECOND LINERS
Second line is a tradition of funeral brass bands in New Orleans. The First Line is the main section of the parade. Those who follow the band to enjoy the music are called the Second Line. Hot stepping out in other directions, New Orleans meets 90s club classics in this band’s music. Up-beat dance tracks will keep the parade and the audience moving with a joyful smile, from ear to ear, on their collective parade-face.
KERALA BEATS
Kerala Beats is a South Indian Chenda (drum) team based in Dunmurry, Belfast formed by young people originally hailing from South India (Kerala). The Chenda is a cylindrical drum made from the wood of jackfruit tree, having a length of 2 feet and a diameter of 1 foot, covered with skin on both ends. Drummers beat the Chenda with two sticks called chendakkol, producing a loud sound.
BEATnDRUM‘n’BRASS
Two bands together for a special parade performance: our ever-popular jazz band led by Mike Barkley combine with our ever-popular samba band.
In the Parade line-up we also have music from –
BEAT’s IRISH TRAD FOLK ENSEMBLE
TITANIC FIFE & DRUM – demonstrates the musical style and dress code of a typical early 20th Century Belfast marching band. The band developed from the Ulster Scots Folk Orchestra Association.
MINI BEATnDRUM & WANDSWORTH DRUMMERS
SUCCESS LION CHINESE DRUMS & DANCE
ARTSEKTA DHOL DRUMMERS
• Dance and other Performers • include
BELFAST COMMUNITY CIRCUS with Sunday Circus and Suffolk Community Circus
AISLING SCHOOL OF IRISH DANCE
BRIGHT LIGHTS HIGHLAND DANCERS
QUB KNIGHTS CHEERLEADERS
NI STARS
LA CHANCE DE DANSER
KARMA DANCERS
BEAT CARNIVAL SCHOOL DANCERS
POLISH SATURDAY SCHOOL DANCERS
KT SCHOOL OF DANCE
SHADEMAKERS
HANDMADE PARADE PUPPETS
and representing recent filming here that has gone out around the globe –
FOOTSTEPSNI Winterfell – Game Of Thrones
STARWARS
plus of course a host of entertaining carnival costume characters and Beat Big Heads.
• Floats • to watch out for
As well as
GIANT PATRICK
PATRICK WALKING PUPPET
GIANT SNAKE
HARP PLAYER and
SPINNING WORLD (Global Belfast) floats (and there may be one or two more)
a couple of parade spectacles to look out for are the Seafaring section and the Dinosaurs section.
Seafaring features;
MAMMOCH MOR the Lagan Currach – Belfast’s own, huge 10m / 33ft long currach, crewed by 11 people when it’s on the Lagan, the Lough or the high seas. During his journeys Patrick must have travelled in similar vessels.
SAILING SHIP – A masted sailing ship is central in Belfast’s coat of arms.
TITANIC – We have a Little Titanic in the Parade. Where has the rest of it gone?
Dinosaurs!
DIPPY DIPLODOCUS – Dippy is on tour from the Natural History Museum. Currently in Dorset, Dippy will be star attraction at the Ulster Museum later this year – but you can see Beat’s Dippy now, towering over the parade
and maybe you’ll get to stroke one of the other three dinos that will be roaring down the road alongside Dippy –
ALBERT O’SAURUS, ROARY and THE UNKNOWN DINOSAUR – what’s it’s name??
The Belfast St Patrick’s Day Parade has something for everyone!
• Join the City Centre audience on Saturday 17th
• Keep in touch with what’s happening, at > Beat Carnival Facebook
• More on St Patrick’s Day in Belfast on City Council website > here.
