Today was the Portishead Carnival. A parade of "floats" started at the Lake Grounds and made their way to the showground near the Gordano School [bottom of the hill]. It was quite the production. There were two things that stood out for me.Firstly, the "floats" were lorries, and if you'll remember, the lorries open from the side with tarps, so they picked a theme and decorated their float accordingly.
Seco
ndly, instead of passing out sweets, like you might do in the States, the floats are voted on, by the public, with donations. Each float has folks with buckets collecting coins. It's mostly the copper coins [one and two pence ... now I know what to do with them!], but that is how the public casts their vote for their favorites.
ndly, instead of passing out sweets, like you might do in the States, the floats are voted on, by the public, with donations. Each float has folks with buckets collecting coins. It's mostly the copper coins [one and two pence ... now I know what to do with them!], but that is how the public casts their vote for their favorites.Oh wait, thirdly, they used Uncle Sam as the mascot to donate to your Carnival!
There is also a panel of judges [I wish I would have gotten their photo!], but I couldn't tell if that counted m
ore or less than the money!!!When the last float goes by, everyone collects their stuff and follows the parade to the showgrounds for the carnival. It was amazing. There are probably 40,000 people that live in Portishead. There were easily 10,000 there today.
Loved it!
Loved it!
