Make some noise
An Acadian tintamarre, air force flyover, Bahamian band, balloons and more will entertain thousands in Charlottetown today
Thousands of people are expected to pour into downtown Charlottetown on Friday morning for the annual Gold Cup parade.
The parade starts at 10 a.m. from North River Road.
After receiving some feedback from the public last year, organizers have dialed things back just a bit this year.
Charlotte Nicholson, tourism and events co-ordinator with the City of Charlottetown, said the public will see about 85 entries this year compared to the 100 that weaved through the streets of the city a year ago. “We just found from comments from the public it was getting pretty long,’’ Nicholson said. “People come out super early to get their spot ad are sitting in the hot sun and sometimes don’t last until the end so we’ve cut it back a little bit this year and we’ve been focusing on getting more bands; quality over quantity, basically.’’
The theme of the 58th annual parade embraces the Acadian celebrations of the Congrès mondial acadien (World Acadian Congress) taking place throughout P.E.I. and southeastern New Brunswick until Aug. 24.
In celebration of the theme, Vive l’Acadie, the parade will be led by a traditional Acadian tintamarre. A tintamarre is an Acadian tradition of marching through the community making noise with improvised instruments and other noise makers. The practice is intended to demonstrate the vitality and solidarity of the Acadian society and to remind others of the presence of the Acadians.
Leading the tintamarre will be Sweet Crude, an indie-pop band from New Orleans, La. The Carrefour de l’Isle-Saint-Jean has also been recruiting people from the French community to make up the tintamarre.
“They’ve been told to wear their Acadian colours and their flags and bring homemade instruments,’’ Nicholson said. “This is basically like a mini parade within a parade.’’
Of course, everyone’s favourite marching band — the P.E.I. Community Clash Band — is back, as are a number of other bands.
A 35-member naval band comprised of members across Canada will march as will Rush: Bahamian Culture from Halifax, which some people may recognize from the DiverseCity festival. As well, the 14-Wing Band (air force) from Nova Scotia returns. An air force Aurora will be making a low-level flyover the parade route at 9:58 a.m. to mark the start of festivities.
“It’s not like the really loud fighter jet,’’ Nicholson said, trying to ease the nerves of parents of young children.
Also back this year are the Belfast Pipe and Drum Band, a baton twirling group from Halifax and, of course, the Shriners.
There will also be three giant balloons coming in from Ontario — Aladdin, Sammy the Sea Monster and Winnie the Pooh.
The parade marshals are Gabriel and Evangeline with Lt.Gov. Antoinette Perry.