Dún Laoghaire rivalled London with its very own "Eye" at the weekend - a big ferris wheel right on the seafront beside the Royal Irish Yacht Club.
It greeted the crowded Dart trains and buses emptying crowds of all ages with hearts to lift and feet to dance at the Festival of World Cultures.
The three-day event is now in its sixth year in the seaside town. The total attendance was estimated at 220,000 late yesterday, with the evening crowds still to arrive. It is a mixture of music, dance, markets, cultural demonstrations, lectures, films and in the middle of it all yesterday, the annual Dún Laoghaire harbour swim.
Ranks of bare flesh at the starting line - 154 men, and 100 women in a separate swim - contrasted with the colourful costumes of Sikh martial artists and Chinese dragon dancers, a few hundred metres away in the harbour plaza.
Tadgh Murphy, of the St Vincent's club, triumphed in the men's race - the early leader was 75-year-old Jackie Carney - while Linda Clarke of the Glenalbyn club won the women's event.
The festival was packed with dilemmas: Stiff Gins or Sikhs? Islamic enlightenment or tribal drumming? Falafel or Basque stew?
The Stiff Gins is a duo of Aboriginal-Australian women, whose name is a pun invoking a traditional aboriginal word for a female, hijacked by white Australia to become a derogatory term in the 20th century. The Gins performed yesterday afternoon, followed by Los Utrera, a Mexican group with an 83-year-old leader, a French Creole group called Tefeo, and at 5.30, the highlight for world music fans, Trans-Global Underground.
Festival director Jody Ackland said yesterday she was "ecstatic" about this year's festival. "It's all gone so well. We have 220,000 to date, and are expecting more after the [ Croke Park] match finishes." Dún Laoghaire Garda said there had been no incidents.
"It's lovely," said a spokesman, "A very good atmosphere, and no trouble."
Away from the main promenade along the seafront to the People's Park and Newtonsmith were less glamorous but important events aimed at spreading understanding among Ireland's emerging communities.
Yesterday afternoon the Islamic Cultural Centre hosted an information session in the VEC on Eblana Street, attended by about 25 people, and addressed by Ali Selim, theologian at the centre, and others including Irish-born Muslims. Mr Selim said the centre was always ready to explain Islam, and that there had been very little incidence here of anti-Muslim feeling following recent terrorism and security scares which had caused racist incidents in other countries.
Ireland's Sikh community held an information session on Saturday.
Spokesman Ravinder Singh said there were about 1,200 Sikhs, distinctive because the men always wear turbans, living in Dublin and a smaller number in the Shannon region.
"We have had some problems - a Sikh man in Athlone was stabbed about a year ago, and more recently a man working in a petrol station was attacked. We want people to know what we believe and how much we can contribute to the community - many of our members are doctors, IT consultants, and other professionals."
Canadian Jessie Turner was one of several hundred volunteers who make the festival possible each year. On point duty at the seafront, she said she was thrilled with the festival, and would volunteer again.
"And I'd like to take the concept back to Canada as we have multicultural programmes in schools, but nothing as much fun for everyone as this is."