Mardi Gras 29th season a success

Mardi Gras 29th season a success

The theme might have been Objects of Love, but climate change set the tone for this year’s Mardi Gras parade with many of the 160 floats and 7800 participants presenting an environmental message to the estimated crowd of 310, 000.

And a sell-out party of 16, 000 revellers later danced through the night, entertained by The Young Divas, Boy George, The Freemasons and Sarah McLeod.

The Dykes on Bikes led the way for this year’s Chief of Parade, British star Rupert Everett, who was joined by local cowboy Adam Sutton.

Crowd favourites included lead float Mother Earth and the City of Sydney’s Pansies, the precision of the Asian Marching Boys, and sporting groups the Sydney Convicts and Flying Bats.

The Bring David Hicks Home float added a sobering, if somewhat controversial, tone, while Surf Life Saving Australia proved popular debutantes. But Kylie’s Impossible Princesses stole the show, as 250 perfectly synchronised marchers celebrated 20 years of Minogue’s music.

Police reported alcohol was believed responsible for a number of incidents, with assaults reported among the crowd, including one in which three medical volunteers were bashed after they were called in to help a member of the viewing crowd.

That incident is a timely reminder of what Mardi Gras is all about in terms of visibility, Bourget said.

Entry into the party past a few sniffer dogs was relatively incident-free, with one woman arrested on a charge of supplying drugs, while 23 others received court attendee notices for possessing prohibited drugs.

Bourget said he was not aware that sniffer dogs would be used at patrol the entry. I respect the need for the police to do their job, but I don’t believe the use of sniffer dogs is the best practice for achieving the aims they want to achieve. I think it creates a climate of fear.

We will be having debriefs across all our events and that is something that will be mentioned.

You May Also Like

Comments are closed.