More information about a very special event that will launch Liverpool’s celebrations has been revealed as the city prepares for the largest Eurovision takeover a host city has ever staged.
On Friday, May 5, the Blue and Yellow Submarine Parade will take over the city’s centre, bringing an underwater sea disco and a new magical realm called Aquatopia to life on the city’s streets.
Featuring a glitterball puffer fish, a drumming octopus, a crew of skating jellyfish, voguing Sea Queens plus many more creatures of the sea and of course a blue and yellow submarine. The parade will start at 6pm at Williamson Square, and will travel in a loop along Whitechapel, up Church Street and along Basnett Street. It will head back to Williamson Square at approximately 7.45pm, for an epic finale moment.
Members of the public are encouraged to follow the parade and are urged to embrace the theme and dress in underwater fancy dress as well!
Inspired by the United By Music theme and symbolising partnership and community, hundreds of performers, musicians and community groups will be involved including LGBTQ+ groups, dance companies, asylum seekers as well as local organisations such as Katumba and Movema.
As with all the host city events, there is significant Ukrainian involvement with the submarine doubling as a stage for a newly formed band made up of star vocalist Sofia Pavlichenko (front woman of Freedom Jazz), Bozhena Hamar (Ukrainian ethnic flute virtuoso) and Liverpool’s Dogshow brothers Sam and Laurie Crombie performing euro classics in an ethno-Ukraine techno mashup.
Laura Cotter, Creative Producer at the Invisible Wind Factory, said:
“We are so thrilled to be putting all of our creative skills and experience to good use to provide something truly unique for the Eurovision celebrations. Community is at the heart of everything we do and this project is another example of that. The support and participation the project has already received has been immense, we are so excited for May 5th and we hope the whole city gets dressed in their wildest sea inspired get-up and gets involved!”
The event has been produced by the Invisible Wind Factory and Kazimier Productions as art of EuroFestival and is one of 24 new commissions taking over the city as part of Eurovision.
You can find out more about Liverpool’s entire host city offering here.
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