More pageants, fewer parades. Now there's an idea. The suggestion was mooted by Mr Donncha Mac Niallais of the Bogside Residents Groups (BRG) shortly after the Crimson Players amateur drama group had re-enacted the final days of the Siege of Derry.
He and a number of Bogside residents, including some Sinn Fein members, were impressed with the special pageant they observed outside the Apprentice Boys' memorial hall beside Derry's historic walls early on Saturday morning.
An accommodation had been reached earlier in the week and it seemed honour would be satisfied for both sides.
The disputing sides played their part in seeking to defuse tensions. The predominantly nationalist Derry City Council had provided £3,500 towards the cost of the pageant. On Monday last the SDLP Mayor of Derry, Mr Martin Bradley, was invited by the Apprentice Boys to the memorial hall for a special ceremony.
According to the Apprentice Boys it was the first time a nationalist politician had been inside their citadel. A small gesture but it denoted a generosity of spirit, and it was reciprocated by nationalists. The BRG called off their planned protest, and surprisingly decided to see what this pageant was all about.
But even in Derry, where it seems the two communities are more willing to reach agreement than elsewhere, the sectarian divisions which are endemic to other parts of Northern Ireland are also deep and ingrained.
Orange and other loyal order parades are an odd mix. It's a day out for Protestant unionist people. There's great colour, pomp and ceremony, and some fine music, but also there's no doubting the message being delivered to nationalists.
Nationalist and Apprentice Boys marshals tried to ensure good order, and for the early part of the day they were mostly successful.
Sinn Fein marshalls for their part remonstrated with the youths. "Are you stupid, what'll you be like on television slobbering and waving your flags," Mr Mac Niallais yelled at one of them.
The potential for trouble was exacerbated around 11 a.m. when a hijacked van was abandoned on Craigavon Bridge across which the bulk of the 15,000 marchers and 180 bands were due to parade one hour later.
Two controlled explosions quickly solved that problem, and the bomb was declared a hoax.
However, as the damp day wore on into evening, and more drink was consumed, the situation deteriorated. Some members of a band from Newtownabbey dressed as the old UVF started jeering at nationalist onlookers around the Diamond area, and then inexplicably attacked them.
Police and local Apprentice Boys marshals tried to intervene and eventually both sides were separated. This in turn triggered further sporadic clashes involving loyalists and nationalists with the RUC in the middle. A number of people suffered minor injuries, some cars were burned, and there were a number of arrests.
It was ugly and sectarian, but compared to trouble in areas like Drumcree it was relatively minor. Still, these were the scenes which made the main British and Irish television reports on Saturday night, creating the false impression that violence and sectarianism had again won over common sense and accommodation.
A Protestant community worker, Ms Diane Greer, said she was in no doubt that the attack by the bandsmen was unprovoked. Mr Alistair Simpson, governor of the Apprentice Boys, and a local DUP councillor, Mr Gregory Campbell, said an investigation would be held into the actions of some of the Newtownabbey bandsmen.
So, pageants instead of parades? Now that the final major set-piece loyal order parade of the summer is out of the way, is that a runner? No, not by a long measure. The loyal orders will keep marching and nationalists will keep protesting, and just as in Derry on Saturday, there are plenty of hotheads ready, willing and able to provoke violence.
It seems that in Northern Ireland problems over parades will always be with us. But despite the skirmishes in Derry the city still set a yardstick by which disputing nationalist and loyalist sides could begin to seriously address the issue and reach some form of accommodation.