It was never going to be a rerun of July: the weather saw to that. On a cold Saturday six days before Christmas about 5,000 Orangemen marched the traditional route out of Portadown to Drumcree church, up to the barricade blocking access to the Catholic Garvaghy Road, and back to town the way they had come.
There were no serious confrontations with the security forces or Garvaghy Road residents, apart from a few firecrackers and some taunting.
There were no politicians present, other than the DUP's Rev William McCrea, well back in the body of the march.
The LVF ceasefire the previous day meant Portadown's hard men went home early and the young thugs on the fringes of the parade had no leadership.
This made it a largely respectable affair. The tone was set by the Portadown district master, Mr Harold Gracey, deemed an unacceptable face in July, but now, after 167 days of maintaining an Orange presence in a caravan beside Drumcree church, the hero of the hour.
He told the crowd that forcing their way down Garvaghy Road was "not the answer. When I go down that hill I will go down in a peaceful and dignified manner in the way our brethren have done since 1807."
The County Armagh Orange leader, Mr Denis Watson, recently elected grand secretary of the order, said since the summer the order had been "demonised by many in society" and particularly by sections of the media.
He emphasised the Portadown Orangemen's readiness for dialogue in last week's short-lived resumption of "proximity talks", in contrast to the Garvaghy Road residents' slowness to come up with proposals.
He did not detail either side's proposals.
The Orange Order's grand master, Mr Robert Saulters - no favourite of the Portadown Orangemen last summer - asked why there had been no apology to the Ballymoney Orangemen for linking them with the burning to death of the three Quinn boys last July. He asked why the murderers had not yet been caught. This "diabolical deed" had been "tied without reason to happenings at Drumcree", he said.
There seemed to be an acceptance that the Portadown Orangemen would not be able to march down the Garvaghy Road in 1998 for the first time in over 190 years.
The Rev Hugh Ross prayed for a miracle, appealing to God to "make a way down for us, as You parted the Red Sea". Another speaker said Saturday's parade was being held "so people wouldn't forget about us". The Portadown Orangemen's spokesman, Mr David Jones, said "if we don't march this year, we're prepared to march twice next year".
The speeches came in between carols and prayers in the fading afternoon light outside Drumcree church. Appeals were made for the young men gathering along the stream in the hope of a confrontation with the security forces to desist and join the worshippers.
The surreal situation which threatened for a few moments of a carol service on the hill while a riot took place 50 yards below never materialised.
There had also been fears some of the young men from Portadown, Belfast and Antrim - the last band in the parade was a sinister-looking black-jerseyed group from the South Antrim UVF - would try to attack Catholic areas adjoining the parade route on its way back into town.
In the event they restricted themselves to roars and catcalls and extra-loud renditions of The Sash as they passed St John the Baptist's Catholic Church, the only place Catholic residents had gathered, behind a well-armoured double line of RUC men and soldiers from the Parachute Regiment.
The deep sectarianism was still there but it was of a subtler kind. One Orangeman kept guard outside a Catholic-owned garage and shop to haul back any unsuspecting youngster who might stray from the march to buy a chocolate bar or a coke.
Mr Gracey returned to his caravan prepared for a long vigil into 1999. The Garvaghy Road residents sent him a card hoping he would enjoy his "Christmas lunch on the hill". In the graveyard beside his winter home, Catholic and Protestant names are mixed on the headstones: Power and Kinsella, Doyle and McCann lie peacefully beside Wright and Donaldson, Porter and Jones.