PICTURE SPECIAL: Wick celebrates 70 years of its gala parade with colour, sunshine and no potholes
The annual parade of floats and crowning of the queen went without a hitch on Saturday evening for the start of Wick Gala Week 2024.
With 30 minutes to go, it looked like the event would be a complete washout as torrential rain poured down – but a group of singing and dancing nuns had their prayers answered when the clouds parted and the sun shone down at 7pm just in time for the crowning ceremony.
Provost of Wick, Cllr Jan McEwan MBE, put her umbrella away and stood resplendent in her chain of office which she said “only comes out on a special occasion like this”.
“This is what Wick does best,” said Cllr McEwan.
“The whole community has got behind this big gala. There are floats and people dressed up raising money for all different charities. It was pouring down rain here but it doesn’t matter whether it’s wet or sunshine, this is what Wickers do best.
“I was looking at the slogans on the walkers and the floats and there are a lot of compliments about the council…not!”
And the town provost was not wrong, with many of those taking part in the colourful parade making clever satirical statements about the state of the county’s roads. One was dressed as the Moon, comparing its pockmarked surface to the potholed streets of Wick, and was followed around by a walking traffic cone.
“At least the council are making an effort with the roads now,” she said in reference to the recent resurfacing of the main drag through the town which helped make the parade’s route less of a hazard. At 6.55pm, she added: “It’s fabulous, the rain’s gone off and we’re going to get the crowning of the queen. All credit to the Wick Gala Committee for their hard work to make this all happen.”
This year’s queen is Anna Durrand and her attendants are Lena Forbes and Mia Gunn. She was crowned by last year’s queen, Abby Dunbar, and both took to their respective floats at the head of the parade.
The guest speaker was Margaret Thomson who talked about the original ‘Gala Day’ which took place exactly 70 years ago. Wick Town Improvements Committee introduced the Wick Gala as we know it back in 1954 but it was an event held over a single day rather than the full week of festivities and fun.
Chair of the Wick Gala Committee, Donna Plowman said: “I’m just overwhelmed with all the fantastic support we’ve had.
“Despite the torrential rain at the start, the community came together to show their fantastic support for the Wick gala. It was eight minutes to seven when that rain stopped. We have a People’s Choice Award this year where you can vote for your favourite float on the Wick Gala Facebook page.”
The Mad Max-themed float won the People’s Choice Award and it was fair to say that a huge amount of work had gone into this particular display which featured a live band thrashing out sounds on the back of their lorry. Various results for other fancy dress entries were published on Facebook as well.
Last year’s gala committee chairman, Alex McDonald, said: “I’m still on the committee and I can tell you that what goes on in the background for this event is unbelievable. Without the helpers and committee members there’d be no gala.”
He talked about the high costs involved in creating the floats and that this has probably led to a decrease in entries with this year’s total number being seven.
However, the quality of work that had gone into the floats and many fancy dress costumes stood testament to the hard work of the committee to pull it all together and keep Wick Gala Week very much alive after 70 years.
There is a week of fun-packed activities ahead and more information can be found on the Wick Gala Week Facebook page.
