The sun may not have been shining but there were beaming faces all around the streets of Cork on Saturday afternoon as the European Capital of Culture 2005 danced its way into the Guinness Book of Records by hosting the world's biggest ever céilí.
The organisers had hoped to attract 10,000 people to dance the biggest Siege of Ennis but were more than happy when, at 2.37pm, the tally people reported that 8,371 had danced the popular set - 1,580 more than when the record was set in Dublin, Ohio, in 1998.
Not, of course, that it was just Corkonians who brought the new record to Leeside.
This was very much a multicounty and a multinational event, with none other than Chicago-born dance star Michael Flatley turning up to help kick off proceedings.
Flatley told musician and composer Micheál Ó Suilleabháin how delighted he was to be able to help with the record-breaking attempt.
After some banter about his new show, Celtic Tiger, which opens in New York this month, Flatley took up his flute and joined the Kilfenora Céilí Band as Ó Suilleabháin counted down - "aon, do, tri".
And then suddenly, after several hours of rehearsals, thousands of dancers were performing a Siege of Ennis as they moved smoothly to fear an tí Fionnan Ó Tuama's instructions of "end to tail", "side to side" and "swing".
The record attempt spanned seven dance "zones" from the Grand Parade to the end of the South Mall and embraced all ages - from an eight-month-old baby strapped to his father to 91-year- old former champion dancer Matt Feerick from Fermoy.
Some six minutes and 30 seconds after kicking off, the Siege of Ennis was lifted, and moments later Ó Suilleabháin announced to the dancers and thousands of onlookers that they had broken the record with 8,371 participants.
There was sustained applause as Flatley and Ó Suilleabháin were joined on stage by Lord Mayor of Cork Deirdre Clune to hold aloft a 1.82m (6ft) sign bearing the record-breaking number.
"I'm elated - it's fantastic," said Niamh Honohan from Bishopstown who, along with friends Fran Corcoran and Bríd Cunningham and their children Ben Corcoran (5) and Sophie Cunningham (6), had been practising for the past week.
Italian friends Marco Cosenza, Silivia D'Alesio, Maria D'Alesio, Daniel Artipoli, Marzia Bagnoli and Luca Araco - they all work in Apple in Cork - were equally delighted with their contribution.
"It's good fun and a great way to keep down the weight, but we are going to import the céilí to Italy, and next year we're going to dance it in Rome outside the Coliseum to claim the record for Italy, " said Marco Cosenza with a hint of a Cork accent.
William Hammy Hammond had taken time out from organising the Cork Folk Festival to act as fear a tí in the red dance zone on the South Mall.
"Trust Cork to come up with something completely daft to celebrate the European Capital of Culture," he joked.
Great credit was due to everyone involved in the record attempt as all the dancing had to be synchronised, he said.
