This year’s Macnas Halloween Parade smashed all records with almost 80,000 people lining the streets to watch the strange and wonderful creations passing by.
The theme of this year’s Halloween Parade was Danse Macabre, turning Galway into a a magical-realist world brimming with fizzing light, infusing the streets with spices and aromas that wafted round dark corners.
Always a gigantic undertaking, this year’s parade featured the signature Macnas giant creations and sculptural images, pyrotechnics, bespoke costumes and epic performances to live and original music.
The parade followed its normal route, starting from the Aula Maxima at NUI Galway and making its way through the pedestrian city centre streets before finishing in the Claddagh.
The delivery of this wondrous chaos is the work of the Macnas Creative Ensemble, comprised of 45 professional artists and 300 volunteers.
Creative Director of ‘Danse Macbre’ Dan Colley is joined this year by Dave Young (Lead Design); Saileog O’Halloran (Costume Design); Alma Kelleher (Music & Sound Design).
The top team would not have been able to create such a captivating spectacle alone, but luckily they had the help of hundreds of performers from the Macnas Young Ensemble; Youth Ballet West; Macnas Youth Drummers; Macnas Public Participation Programme; Macnas Brass Ensemble and many more.
