Festival kicks off in style

IT'S the event that kicks off the Festival season and offers the people of Edinburgh – and the world – the chance to see all that the city has to offer for free.

The Edinburgh Festivals' Cavalcade landed on the streets of the city yesterday.

Such was the size of the parade that it took almost two hours for all of the performers to leave the blocks, and by the time the final acts got going the first had already reached the end forming a huge, solid semi-circle of sound and colour from Market Street to Castle Terrace.

Tens of thousands from around the world gathered to watch the procession, and marvel at the eclectic mix of dancers, bands, performers and community groups promoting their shows and causes.

Among the performers were bikers, pipers, fifers, drummers, singers, dancers, dragons, devils, zombies, skeletons, slinkies, sports cars, spacemen, samurais, stilt-walkers, strippers, drag queens, lollipops, ladyboys, pots, pans, pimps, blimps, dwarves, rednecks, neds, horses, cats, Indian braves and belly-dancers.

The near-3000 performers in the parade got going at 2.30pm with the roar of motorcycle engines, representing motorcycle groups from around the city.

'Papa Joe' Traynor, from the Alba Goldwings motorcycle club, took a break from fending off the attentions of the lovely Yuyu Cuba, of The World Festival's Hemingway Havana show at St George's West, to show off his bike.

He said: "It's a Honda Goldwing Tricycle. There are 160 bikes in total, including some Harleys but we don't like to mention them. They think they're the real bikers, but as you can see the ladies know better."

By far the largest contingent came from Edinburgh's Chinese community, keen to promote their country in the week that the Olympics kick off in Beijing. They brought with them dragon walkers, lion dancers and flamboyant peacock-feathered clothing from their China Drum Arts Ensemble show at City nightclub.

In a show of Festival solidarity, they were closely followed by a contingent from Buddhist spiritual group Falun Dafa, who have held a 24/7 sitting protest outside the Chinese Consulate in London for many years and occasionally protest outside the Scottish consulate on Corstorphine Road.

Falun Dafa co-ordinator Eddie Aitken said: "We are pleased to see so many people from the Chinese community here as the Cavalcade gives them to opportunity to learn about the spiritual practice of Falun Gong, which is something they are denied at home in China. The ruling communist party view the practice as dangerous superstition so it is suppressed there but we can display it in all its glory."

Another group who cast aside past differences to stand side-by-side with their foes was the Craigmillar Community Arts and Environment Project, who looked perfectly happy alongside the patrolling police officers who recently nabbed them over a certain pink police box earlier in the year.

Co-ordinator Mark Carr said: "They were none too pleased about it at the time, and we got our collar felt for it but in the end we just got a warning. It's all forgotten now, though."

There was also a sample performance of Tempo Musical Productions' Full Monty show, although the boys had to maintain a modicum of modesty for the family-orientated parade.

Full Monty stripper Euan Fleming said: "I'm normally a solicitor by trade, and I've certainly been doing some 'soliciting' today. We've had to keep some clothes on for the parade though, and people are going to have to buy a ticket to see if we actually do The Full Monty in our show."