Numbers for the Spraoi Festival in Waterford were expected to reach almost 100,000 over the course of the weekend, but organisers admitted that the Waterford versus Cork hurling match had an effect on attendance at the festival this year.
"We're probably down about 30 per cent on Sunday afternoon," said festival director TV Honan. "We're not overly worried though, as we're not reliant on box office receipts. There's also less of a crush on the streets so families are really able to enjoy the acts. It's like what the festival was 10 years ago, actually, and the returning hordes later should add another layer to the parade."
In the car park of the Tower Hotel, long-time festival associate Dermot Quinn was to be found liberally applying eye shadow to Frankenstein and his missus. Given the grey skies, he opted for the waterproof variety. Alongside him, Mike Leahy was helping a skeleton pop an eye out of its socket. "Tricky things eye sockets," he noted, before achieving the required dangling effect.
Quinn and Leahy were the creative forces behind last night's Spraoi parade, which drew upwards of 50,000 punters onto Waterford's Quays. "Usually we have a narrative," said Mr Quinn, "but we wanted to energise the event this year so it's really all about mayhem and fun. The themes this year are drawn from B-movies and the emphasis is on creating panic in public!"
The duo began preparations for the parade last May with a team of six employees, and last night had a crew of close to 200 people ensuring the event went smoothly.
Due to numbers returning from the All-Ireland semi-final, the starting time had to be delayed till 10pm to give hurling fans a chance to be back in the city to see the spectacle.
Organisers at the festival estimate that volunteer participation is worth in the region of €50,000 to the festival each year. What began as a modest parade on a Sunday afternoon 14 years ago has now grown to one of the biggest outdoor extravaganzas in the country. Yet throughout the festival's history, willing community participation has been its most remarkable feature, helping to foster a strong sense of ownership among locals.
Programme director Miriam Dunne, who has been involved with the festival since its inception, traces its modest beginnings: "The festival basically began with a few of us sitting around bored and reflecting on the fact that Waterford always emptied on the August bank holiday weekend. The factories usually closed and lots of people went on holidays. So we decided to organise a parade and 5,000 people came along. Many of them couldn't make head or tail of it! We had about 100 people out to volunteer and so we said to ourselves let's do it again and it went from there."
Initially conceived as a festival for and by the people of Waterford, Spraoi has now developed into an international event.
The challenge has been to allow the festival grow to meet the demands of residents, while retaining the sense of community ethos. As the festival has grown, the voluntary element of the programme has become ever vital to its continued success. Now, more than 400 volunteers offer their services.
Brendan and Terri Cummins are two such volunteers. Dividing their time between Zurich and Waterford, they first began volunteering over ten years ago, and now plan their holidays to coincide with Spraoi.
"I think I first came became aware of the festival's existence 10 or 12 years ago. So we both decided to invest our time. What makes it unique is that it is a community undertaking and almost exclusively voluntary in nature. We now look forward to the weekend as the highlight of our year, and always plan our holiday period to coincide with the Spraoi. It's just a totally uplifting experience and what I would call a holistic community event, where in spite of age, creed or race you can get involved."
When not acting as a steward at the festival, Brendan is chief operating officer with Ciba - a multinational Swiss chemical company with 18,000 employees. "Obviously it differs greatly from my professional life, but it has become an annual routine for us." Mr Cummins also says he and his wife have noticed "a younger generation is springing up to volunteer".
