Colourful parade full of fun

The Cryptosporidium bug that has rendered Galway’s water undrinkable may be a million miles away from the glitz and glamour of mid 20th century Hollywood, which was the theme of this year’s Galway Arts Festival parade, nonetheless Macnas managed to incorporate the troublesome parasite into The 9th Wonder of the World.It came in the shape of a colourful caged monster which escaped from its confines to terrify onlookers before being recaptured and it was just one of the smile-inducing items in the parade.Colourful sunflowers, New York cops, dancing chunks of birthday cake and over the top movie types, as well as a superb 'gameshow’ float entitled The Buck Stops Here, were among the scenes that entertained the crowds, backed by music from the era.The shows in the parade were being 'filmed’ in a bid to capture the 9th wonder of the world on celluloid. Because of the Hollywood theme, there was far more glamour than normal and, apart from one or two scary stilt creatures, there were none of the dragons or monsters with which Macnas has long been associated. For that reason, The 9th Wonder of the World seemed to hold a particular appeal for children As is normal for Macnas, the onlooking crowd was sprayed with water at regular intervals along the route, but this year the water being used was of the bottled variety, for safety reasons. There was much that was lovely about The 9th Wonder of the World but it suffered from being quite short. Maybe the reason it moved so slowly was an attempt to conceal that fact — at our viewing point outside the GBC some of the event’s less interesting pieces just went on for too long. And then, at the end, the parade just faded away.That might have been because.........