Macnas madness hits the streets of Galway tomorrow night when the street theatre company stages its first "twilight" parade as part of the annual arts festival.
A hundred and one drummers have been rehearsing in the city for the past few weeks, and they promise a "powerful" performance directed by former Saw Doctor Johnny Donnelly. The theme of this year's parade is "Colours".
Members of the public are invited to join in by choosing their favourite colour among three primary shades of red, yellow and blue. The parade director, Judith Higgins, explains red symbolises passion, power and strength; yellow, a sense of humour and quirky personality; and blue, a free spirit and a serene and tranquil nature.
Masks, giant ants, giraffes, peacocks, giant skull floats and more have been handmade by volunteers and students on the social welfare summer job scheme over the past few weeks, working with Macnas artists, performers, musicians and technicians.
Among the community groups taking part are the Blue Teapots, Westside Youth Action, West side Resource Centre, Galway Centre for Independent Living, Ballinfoyle Youth Group, Knocknacarra Youth Project, Ballybane Adventure Project and the Galway branch of Asylum Seekers of Ireland.
In a departure from the norm, the spectacle will take three routes from 9 p.m. on Sunday and will converge for a "fantastic finale".
The "red parade" will start on Father Griffin Road and will move through Dominick Street Lower, O'Brien's Bridge, Mainguard Street, Shop Street, Eglinton Street, Francis Street and on to the Headford Road and Dyke Road.
The "blue parade" will start at Lower Merchants' Road, moving into Eyre Square, Williamgate Street and Eglinton Street, and will follow the same route as the "reds" from there.
The "yellow parade" will start at Prospect Hill, moving around Eyre Square, onto Williamgate Street, Eglinton Street and following the same route as the red and blue parades.
Parking restrictions and traffic diversions will be in place, and there will be a cordoned area for wheelchair users in the upper level of the Black Box car-park.
Four people who won't be able to follow it are the members of the Urban Dream Capsule, who have spent almost a week in the window of the Galway City Library.
They have been busy painting gnomes which can be "borrowed" for a day trip, on the condition that photographs of the outing are returned to the Australian performers.
