27/02/2006

Belfast City plans St Patrick's Day celebrations

Belfast is gearing up to celebrate the first Belfast City Council organised St Patrick’s Day with a carnival procession and concert organised as part of Celebrate Belfast 2006.

The St Patrick's day events will be supported by the Millennium Commission, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and Laganside.

The chart-topping Bodyrockers will headline an afternoon concert at the city’s Custom House Square, supported by a wealth of local talent.

A carnival procession, organised by the Beat Initiative and featuring more than 400 participants from community groups across Belfast, will leave the City Hall at 1pm.

The carnival will make its way along Donegal Place to Castle Junction into Castle Place, then along High Street and Victoria Street into Custom House Square where the main concert will start at 1.30pm.

The first half of the bill will feature traditional Irish and Ulster-Scots performers, as well as other artists reflecting the other cultural traditions in Belfast today, including the Chinese, Indian and Bahai communities.

The finale of the concert will feature special performances by the up-and-coming Gimik – voted ‘Best New Irish Act’ at this year’s Big Buzz Awards – and Bodyrockers, who have stormed the charts all over the world with their dance anthem, ‘I Like The Way You Move’.

With a capacity of more than 5,000, admission to Custom House Square is free, but entrance will be on a strictly ‘first-come-first-served’ basis.

(SP/GB)

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