A giant black effigy of Lundy, his grotesque face brightly painted, hung ominously on Derry's Bishop Street on Saturday morning.
By the time of his ritual burning in the early evening, the climax of the Apprentice Boys' activities, Lundy had lost his appeal for milling TV crews, who found much higher flames leaping from vehicles set alight by nationalist protesters.
From early in the morning, tension was high. Shoppers rushing around the showpiece Foyleside centre were saying the central Diamond area of the city was being closed off.
As radio ads sang the praises of Derry for shopping, and multicoloured Christmas lights twinkled, hundreds of police in riot gear were positioning Land-Rovers and erecting barriers to mark out the route of the Apprentice Boys' parade.
A soft-spoken sister from the Convent of Mercy confronted three RUC men clad in flame-proof boiler suits and balaclavas to tell them she thought it was "disgraceful" and that traders would suffer. The police said they had consulted widely and considered every option.
It was apparent that the Apprentice Boys were to be allowed parade around the Cenotaph on the Diamond before turning into Bishop Street.
Protesters supporting the Bogside Residents' Group were kept back from the Diamond by a row of police Land-Rovers in Butcher Street.
From then the events of the day unfolded like theatre on a shifting stage. Everybody predicted confrontation and shops which had been open earlier quickly closed their shutters.
The SDLP leader, Mr John Hume, watched from a third-floor window of a department store on the Diamond. Mr Martin McGuinness, of Sinn Fein, among the front row of protesters, peered over the top of police shields. Behind him demonstrators chanted "SS RUC" as the strains of the marching bands came within earshot.
Up to 30 protesters made a surprise appearance on a roof overlooking the Diamond and unfurled a banner which read "Disband the RUC".
On Bishop Street, Apprentice Boys and bandsman, who had taken part in an earlier local parade, were in high spirits. Strict warnings banning alcohol had obviously been observed. A stall sold books, tapes, flags and badges, but there was no evidence of paramilitary paraphernalia.
Some 3,000 Apprentice Boys took part in the main parade, which circled the Diamond. The bands came from all over the North. As they passed, an army helicopter hovered overhead, making it impossible to either hear the chants of the roof-top protesters or the music of the bands.
The parade passed without incident until one band broke regulations by playing music on the Diamond. An attempt by the general secretary of the Apprentice Boys, Mr Billy Moore, to call them into line resulted in minor scuffles between band members, stewards and the police.
The incident raised tension among onlookers and anger was turned against cameramen and journalists. A chant of "U-UUVF" was quickly stopped.
Within minutes, the first bottles and bricks were thrown. Up to 1,000 people were spread along Shipquay Street as youths hurled missiles and later a number of petrol bombs at the police.
Vehicles were hijacked and set alight and the people of Derry, many of whom stood around to watch, resigned themselves to another night of rioting.
The predicted lull came after teatime, but rioters, led by 16 and 17year-olds, returned after 10 p.m. with shopping trolleys full of petrol bombs. The only adults on the streets were those leaving the pubs. Rioting continued until 4 a.m.
A hotel owner, Mr Garbhan O'Doherty, summed up the feeling of traders. "Tomorrow the Apprentice Boys will be gone home, the rioters will be gone home, the police will be gone home, and we'll be the ones left with the bills."