St Patrick’s Day in Belfast 2010
March 18th, 2010
Belfast’s official St Patrick’s Day celebrations were a peaceful, family orientated event, and went off well — even if they were a little smaller and more sedate than in other cities. No green river, green buildings, green lights. In fact, the patriotism was kept largely to the small parade, cheap plastic shamrock flags (A sign read: “Flags emblems or other paraphernalia of a political, sectarian, racist nature will not be permitted on site.”) and some music from London-born rapper Chipmunk and Spanish singer Ruth Lorenzo who came fifth in the 2008 X Factor.
Almost just an event for the sake of an event; because the council not provide the funding and permission, but one that has little emphasis on its original purpose, and that which is celebrated around the world. Curated by The Beat Initiative on behalf of the City Council and Arts Council, the parade itself was colourful, loud, cheerful and enjoyed by the spectators, many of whom turned up in green and painted faces.
While the main event was peaceful, there were 8 arrests made throughout the night not too far away, in the “Holylands” area of South Belfast — generally populated by students — and this seems to have been completely skimmed over by the media outlets. The Gown (QUBSU newspaper) has a very different take on the events. Not quite the riot of the year before, but still not what would be considered peaceful.
In stark contrast, however, I attended the Ulster Orchestra’s annual St Patrick’s Day concert for my fix of fiddly-dee tunes for the year from Co. Clare accordionist Sharon Shannon, which sounded so much better with the accompaniment of a full orchestra than it ever would in the back of a pub…
Photo by Chris O’Kane
