2020 plan for fiery opening ceremony

South Park at the Claddagh will host the official opening ceremony of Galway 2020, next February. Organisers say it will attract between 20,000 and 50,000 spectators.

The two-hour event to kick start Galway’s European Capital of Culture year will involve music and speeches, along with fire and flame effects and pyrotechnics. Flames will be a mixture of turf fires and gas effects.

Audience members will stand in the main body of the green area at South Park, or the Swamp, and the spectacle will be situated at the path along the shoreline. A fire procession will make its way along Claddagh Quay and Nimmo’s Pier.

Organisers said ‘fiery’ celebrations will begin in towns in County Galway, and they will then move into the open-air city event at Claddagh.

The event is produced by Galway 2020 in conjunction with British company, Wonder Works, which was involved with the opening ceremony of the London and Rio Olympic Games in 2012 and 2016.

The event will begin at 5pm on Saturday February 8, and Galway 2020, in its application for an event licence, has promised to have a “comprehensive information and public engagement campaign” with local communities and businesses.

“Cognisance will be taken of potential clashing with existing events in town, including Mass times,” the licence application said.

The organisers said they had a contingency plan for bad weather, including waterlogging of the green area, and its potential to flood.

“We are cognisant of the nature of South Park and the fact that the event is taking place in February. South Park provides the best arena for the mass gathering of the largest audience within the city area. Having studied the park in detail on September 30, at the time of a 5.6 metre tide following severe rain, organisers are satisfied that there is ample good ground in the park for the event to take place,” the application reads.

If there is “severe flooding” at South Park in the weeks leading up to the opening, Galway 2020 have identified a “number of locations as possible standby sites”.

“The event is outdoors and therefore exposed to all the weather elements. There are no facilities specifically for shelter provided by the event organisers,” it said.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.

Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.