Donegal visitors witnessed some amazing sites last night at the Halloween 30 year celebrations in Derry and Strabane.
The City of Bones’ Halloween festivities came to a spectacular conclusion with a stunning fireworks display that lit up the River Foyle, and a magical Out of this World carnival parade that showcased local creativity, community spirit and civic pride.
(Photo – Tom Heaney, nwpresspics)
The largest crowd ever of up to 30,000 or so people came out to be part of the celebrations in Derry’s city centre while in Strabane, thousands of revellers gathered in the Main Street Car Park to enjoy family friendly activities and a fireworks display over the River Mourne.
Over the four-day festival an estimated 80,000 people participated in events across the City and District making its 30 year anniversary celebrations one of the most successful yet with an eclectic mix of events over the weekend for families of all ages across the City and District.
From early afternoon, crowds gathered in the city and in Strabane in full costume to enjoy performances by street walkabout creatures Saurus and energetic street performances from Spark!, with their dynamic choreography and lighting designs.
(Photo – Tom Heaney, nwpresspics)
Spark enjoying the Halloween Parade on Monday night on Strand Road, Derry.
They also attended the many events organised as part of the festival which included ghost tours, storytelling, arts and crafts and street animation.
Other highlights over the weekend included the Awakening of the Walls when the City Walls came to life with music, animation and light, creating a fantasy of fire and flame, the spooky organ recitals at the Guildhall, a Spooky Halloween panto at Strabane’s Alley Theatre and family entertainment at the Craft Village and the Strabane Community Library.
Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council Alderman Hilary McClintock hailed the celebrations a huge success and praised everyone involved in making it a unique occasion for the City and District.
Ms McClintock said: “This year’s Halloween celebrations have once again been a phenomenal success with record breaking numbers coming out to be part of the spectacle. No one does Halloween like us and we definitely deserve our Best Halloween Destination in the World title.
“The carnival parade was truly amazing, and showcased the wealth of local talent and creativity this cityand district has to offer with over up to 600 local children and community groups taking part in what was, in my opinion, the best carnival parade the city has seen.
“The festival had a real family focus and there was so much to do in the run up to and during the festival to keep children entertained and to get everyone involved in celebrating this unique event. I felt very proud to be part of it.
“One of the main successes of Halloween is the partnership working between Council and the support agencies and the community sector, who really do all they can to help us deliver a great event.
“This event could not happen without the support of all agencies that help make Halloween such a fantastic experience for the thousands of people who make an effort to dress up and come along to enjoy the celebrations,”she added.
Derry City and Strabane’s Chief Inspector Gordon McCalmont said: “It was great to see so many people enjoying themselves at the various events taking place across Derry and Strabane last night and at the weekend. Given the thousands of people who came here to celebrate Halloween the fact that there were only two arrests is testament to the desire from local people, Council, and our partners in the other emergency services to ensure that events like this showcase the District in the best light possible.”
Aeidin McCarter, Head of Culture with Derry City and Strabane District said the events organised throughout the weekend were record breaking numbers attending all the events, adding that Halloween remains a key attraction in the City and District’s events calendar.
“We had a fantastic weekend of events that saw record numbers of people coming along to enjoy and be part of the celebrations.
“Among the events that proved extremely popular were the Awakening of the Walls, the Spark! performance and the appearance of Saurus in both Derry and Strabane, while the haunted tours at the Tower Museum and the arts and crafts in the Alley Theatre had record numbers attending.
“The family entertainment and storytelling at our venues proved hugely popular and the Haunted Halloween Harvest Market added to the entire Halloween offering.
“Other events that helped make the weekend such a success were the movies at the Nerve Centre, treasure hunts and spooky bat and ghost tours at Creggan Country Park, ghoulish events at the Riverwatch Aquarium, Bewitching Tales at Gray’s Printing Press and trick or treat tours at the Alley Theatre,” she added.
The Western Health and Social Care Trust is pleased to be working working in partnership with other agencies at this event.
The Halloween festival is delivered by Derry City and Strabane District Council with support from Tourism NI.
Images from the festival will be available on the Banks of the Foyle Halloween Carnival facebook page www.facebook.com/HalloweenDerryStrabane
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