The Mayor's Thames Festival 2008

Essentially, we want to provide a celebration for London and its river, a city centre party if you like, one that is free and open to all. We want to close roads and bridges and transform them with culture. We want to educate and transform people's ideas about the river, too. Most of all, we want people not just to be spectators, but to be active participants in this spectacular London event.
Adrian Evans,Festival Director

From 13th-14th September the tenth year of the Thames Festival took place in London under the auspices of its mayor Boris Johnson. As in every year, the purpose of the festival was to celebrate the river which remains a popular place for leisure activities and to highlight the cultural diversity of London. Londoners and visitors to the city enjoyed entertainment in an atmosphere full of life including street art shows, fireworks, illuminations, a water race, street plays, choir performances, beach activities and concerts. The festival events took place from noon until 10 pm. A popular boat race, the Thames Pageant, starting in Richmond took place on the Saturday. This included Chinese dragon boats, Viking rowboats, Hawaiian battle canoes, Irish curraghs and many other interesting watercraft all heading for Greenwich. The whole afternoon was filled with music, street performances, dance, good food and craft stands. Sunday was devoted to lovers of comedy and music and to a sand castle building competition as well as the Tongliang Dragon. The greatest events of the day included a night carnival and fireworks from the Oxo Tower, which were considered to be the festival’s finale. Other attractive events included the Feast on the Bridge, River Tango, the Great River Race, the Korean New Moon Festival, the Photo Competition and more.

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Over the two days the festival was visited by approximately 950 thousand visitors. The New European Village pavilion became the place where new EU countries including Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Romania, Bulgaria, etc. were officially represented. Slovakia took part in the Thames Festival for the first time in 2005. We were represented by the Slovak Centre in London. This year Banská Bystrica self-governing region participated for their second time and Trnava self-governing region was a newcomer to the Festival.

Slovakia, along with other European countries, was given an opportunity to present its culture, traditions and its way of life in the New European Village pavilion in front of the Royal Elizabeth Hall. The two Slovak stands presented popular Slovak tourist destinations and business and investment opportunities in Slovakia to the British public and attracted visitors through the folk art and culture show. The Slovak presentation was visited by ten thousand visitors at the festival.

The majority of interest in the Slovak stand was from British citizens but there was also a significant attendance by travellers from all over the world who were visiting London.

The visitors to the Slovak stand were mainly interested in tourist attractions such as the capital city of Bratislava, the Vysoké and Nízke Tatra Mountains, the towns of Banská Bystrica and Trnava with their sights and tourist opportunities, other cities, caves, castles and fortresses, spas, accommodation – prices and standard, flights to Slovakia, plane ticket prices, etc. The highly professional Slovak stand contributed to the creation of a good image of Slovakia to the British and to foreign tourists in London.

More info: www.thamesfestival.org

By Martin Hakel
Photo: Archive SK Magazine, I. Izquierdo, G. Spice, Angell, D. Wilcox, N. Crouch, P. Ware

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