Belfast Carnival History
Were You There? A brief history of Beat’s Belfast Carnival
1995 (June) 100 Drummers Parade 100 newly trained Samba drummers, led by the world’s most famous carnival band ‘Olodum’ from Brazil – brought a new look to drumming parades in Belfast.
1995 (September) Hay Fever the 1st Belfast Carnival - working with Galway’s Macnas arts group, 300 Belfast participants amazed 10,000 spectators in Belfast city centre. Belfast city-centre hadn’t seen anything like this before.
1996 Sea Change proclaiming a new face for parades in the City with 700 participants including 250 samba drummers, the group performed to an audience of 25,000.
1997 Beasts and Feasts parade participants escalated to 1,000 and audience figures increased to 70,000 as carnival images and fireworks animated the night-time Lagan River culminating in an Aquatic Fire Spectacle finalé.
1998 Picture This! 1,000 performers brush the city streets with another rainbow-coloured spectacle of carnival art.
1999 The Spice of Life Themes from carnivals around the world make this the hottest performance to date.
2000 A Brighter Day Disappointment, as there isn’t financial support for the Carnival Parade, in what should have been the biggest Carnival celebration for the Millennium year. We produced a weekend of carnival performances in St George’s Market, determined to still make A Brighter Day in Belfast.
2001 Our Town We took carnival (and 240 young people) to the Millennium Dome in London for a week of 15 Our Town performances.
2002 That Hat To keep carnival alive, we produced a small-scale parade with a shoe-string budget. Over 400 participant-performers donned their hats for the occasion!
2003 Making Light While producing carnivals elsewhere, we worked on a strategy for re-establishing the Belfast Carnival for all. We also inaugurated a winter carnival, Making Light, the East Belfast Lantern Parade, as a unique annual event for East Belfast.
2004 In partnership with Belfast City Council, Beat draws on its international network to plan a new carnival skills training programme in the city.
2005 Carnival Party The carnival arts skills training for artists and a Belfast Carnival Development Consortium get underway. City-wide youth training programmes – Carnival Creations and Carnival Collective – are launched, thanks to significant support from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation. These produce a carnival showcase event, the Carnival Party, as a stepping stone towards...
2006 ...the Beat Summer Carnival – the re-emergence of the Belfast Carnival, with an international dimension. The event lives up to its strap-line of 'Back with a Bang', delivering a fantastic spectacle beyond people's expectations.
2007 Flower Power Surf was up, love was in the air, and for the first time, Belfast's Lord Mayor was in the carnival parade. In fact, this was the start of a shift. Although Beat had created the 2007 Lord Mayor's Parade at the end of May, for the outgoing Lord Mayor, in a major change, the incoming Lord Mayor had his parade at the beginning of his term, as part of Beat's carnival, to allow for a combined event at the June carnival date, from 2008 onwards.
2008 Gulliver's Circus The Belfast City Carnival is now the name for the June event: Beat partnering with the City Council to 'welcome the new Lord Mayor'. A giant Gulliver presided over what was described by many as 'the best carnival yet'.
