Stop the traffic with your Cairns Festival float

Friday, 16 July, 2010. There are only two weeks to get your 2010 Cairns Festival Parade entry forms in!

Registrations close on Friday 30 July. This is the last chance for Cairns residents to be involved and have a chance of winning considerable parade prize money in three separate categories.

The 2010 Cairns Festival Parade is set for Saturday 21 August when more than 50 floats and hundreds of participants pull out all stops to entertain the 20,000 strong crowd.

Cairns Festival’s 17 day long party begins on Friday 20 August and runs to Sunday, 5 September at locations around the city and region.

Cairns Festival Parade coordinators Nerissa Brandenberger and Mark Edwards are calling for parade participants and float-builders from the entire far North to complete planning how they will celebrate local culture and sense of place.

"More than any other event on the calendar, the Festival Parade brings people together to celebrate the joys of living in this diverse, extraordinary region. It is about unbridled creativity, releasing your inner essence and showing off your community," Ms Brandenberger said.


Ms Brandenberger has developed new support for walking floats, marching groups without vehicles and an individual participant category for those wanting to add their own identity to the moving feast of people, sound and colour.

"We are eagerly anticipating the creativity and originality that local people put into their floats and individual parade presence. We expect a mix of the outrageous, the traditional, the artistic and the multicultural," Ms Brandenberger said.

Based at the Festival office, Ms Brandenberger and Mr Edwards are available to assist prospective participants with the finer details and necessary resources. Several pre-parade community workshops are planned this month including drumming and carnival mask making.

To learn how you or your group can get involved, request an information packet from the Festival Office at Cairns Regional Council on 4044-3086 or email n.brandenberger@cairns.qld.gov.au

Cairns Festival is supported and presented by Cairns Regional Council. Now the region's largest annual cultural celebration, this year's festival season will run from 20 August to 5 September at venues all over Cairns. The full program, and information about events and activities, will be available in late July. For more information visit www.cairnsfest.com.au