Mardi Bras Competition in Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras 2009
Golden Bay’s Mardi Gras, which is French for “Fat Tuesday,” is a well-attended and by now iconic event which draws a large crowd of partygoers with expected regularity.
As in previous years, organiser Dave Myall has put together a tight and varied programme full of music and performance that showcases local and regional talents such as Chimuka, Grio, The Cutty Wren, Rum & Coke and many more. Street stalls, jugglers, buskers, a bouncy castle, bellydancers, fire performers, street theatre, clowns and balloons will provide entertainment for all ages from midday onwards.
Shops and cafés will be open till late and Commercial Street will be closed from 1pm onwards, but the Village Market will begin at noon.
“It will be great fun,” promises Dave. “There will be some new stuff on the programme and some performers like the Catholic Schoolboys, formerly Top Heavy, will perform for the last time.
“We’ll have a Mardi Bras competition for the first time with a display of creative bras, and possibly a parade on stage. There’s $300 cash in prizemoney so that should be jolly good incentive for designers.”
The party on the Village Green traditionally kicks off with a mask parade accompanied by jugglers, musicians and a taniwha as the centerpiece, which begins its procession at the community centre at 6pm. For those keen to join the parade, free workshops to make masks, costumes and the taniwha are held by fibre and fabric artist Sarah Hornibrooke and ITALAvatar costume-maker Claire Prebble. The workshops are on Friday, 3.30-6.00pm and on Saturday, 2.00-5.30pm at the Community Centre.
Also referred to as Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day, Mardi Gras falls on the final day of the festival of Carnival and is traditionally celebrated on the day before Ash Wednesday to mark the end of the fasting season of Lent, which begins on January 6 and ends 46 days before Easter.
For further information contact Dave Myall on 525 8876.
Ina Holst
