Council forecasts bright Bank Holiday Weekend in Belfast

Weather experts may be predicting dull skies over Belfast this Bank Holiday weekend, but the forecast for the city’s streets is most definitely bright and colourful.

For Belfast is preparing to kick off the summer season with the year’s biggest and brightest carnival event – the annual Lord Mayor’s Show.

The Lord Mayor’s Show on Saturday marks the end of Councillor Martin Morgan’s year as Belfast's First Citizen. Councillor Morgan said that it was highly appropriate that the 2004 Lord Mayor’s Show had taken "youth" as its theme.

“As one of the youngest Lord Mayors in Belfast’s history, I fully recognise the contribution which young people have made and continue to make to our society, our city and its future development,” he said.

Councillor Morgan pointed out that, over recent years, the Lord Mayor’s Show had undergone major improvements, with Belfast City Council committing considerable resources to its continuing development.

“The Show, quite rightly, has taken its place at the centre of our annual programme of events, celebrating not only the end of the Lord Mayor’s year, but also all that is great about this city of Belfast,” he added.

This year’s Lord Mayor’s Show once again will follow a circular route between Cathedral Quarter and the City Hall, through the heart of Belfast. More than 1,000 people will take part in this year’s procession, drawn from 18 community groups and more than a dozen businesses from across the City.

The parade of around 30 floats and up to a dozen bands, will leave Writer’s Square, opposite St. Anne’s Cathedral, at 1pm and move along Royal Avenue and Donegall Place to do a lap of City Hall before returning to Writer’s Square at around 2pm.

(MB)