Excitement is building ahead of this year's Manchester Day - the first celebration since the start of the pandemic. After three years off, the grand Manchester Day event is returning to the city centre this Sunday, June 19, with thousands expected to head into the heart of the city to enjoy the celebrations.
With parades, performances, and activities for all the family, this year's celebrations are themed around the young people of the city region, with all of the events fitting into the theme Our Year.
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At a preview event on Tuesday evening, some of the members of Manchester Youth Council took the time to speak with the Manchester Evening News to share what they'd been getting up to in preparation for the event.
Daanya Isa, 16, 14-year-old Lois Adeou, 15-year-old Virginia Collins, 18-year-old Davina Adesanya, and Callum Shallcross, 15, have been working incredibly hard over the last few months to put together their own ideas for what will be happening over in Piccadilly Gardens on the big day, planning live performances, food, and special treats for young people, by young people.
Daanya said: "We've been planning and organising for the event, our focus has been at Piccadilly Gardens where we're doing a youth takeover, we got a lot of youth groups and young people involved and we planned what we want to see for young people, it's kind of a youth led youth orientated space."
Virginia added: "Young people are such a vital part of Manchester as a whole so we wanted to focus on them and give them a chance to express themselves, I'm looking forward to meeting the new people that are going to turn up because I feel like there's going to be a diverse group of people and it's going to be a very big social thing."
All five have worked around exams to bring together their ideas into a vision before making that a reality ahead of the weekend, and it's something they're all passionate about.
Lois said: "When you're given a chance you want to step up, young people always want to be heard, we have lots to say and it's just about being given the opportunity."
The group's work will be on display at Piccadilly Gardens from 11-5pm, where everything on the itinerary has been thought through and put into action by the youngsters. There will also be entertainment at Cathedral Gardens with live dance and music and the ability to try some circus skills, with the Manchester Day 2022 parade also touring the city centre.
Starting at 1pm, at the crossroads of Deansgate and Liverpool Road by the Hilton Tower, the parade will march up Deansgate, turning onto St Mary's Gate, Cross Street, and John Dalton Street before heading back down Deansgate towards the start line, with the full parade set to last until 2.30pm.
There will also be face painting, a climbing wall; an Instagram wall and a graffiti wall- so young people can express what Manchester means to them through art and creativity. MCR Active will be stationed in Piccadilly Gardens and will be hosting a wide range of sports and fun games for all.
Over on Exchange Square you can discover the Manchester Letters, an installation of human sized love letters to the city, created by three local artists and Manchester people.
This year's parade draws strongly on ideas of Mancunian identity, and of stories past and present - a parade in which everyone in the city, whether they're taking part in the parade or watching it, can recognise themselves. Each of the main floats has a story that reflects Manchester's place in the world, as seen by the diverse communities that make up the city.
Award-winning production designer Dan Potra is the creative director behind this year's parade, being brought on board by Walk the Plank after he helped them create events such as the Liverpool European Capital of Culture celebration. Dan, who also worked on the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony, is looking forward to seeing the hard work come together and showcase the best of what Manchester has to offer.
He said: "This year's parade has been two years in the making with the original context for the Manchester Day parade that Covid cancelled in 2020 about sustainability and Manchester’s ecological place within the overall health of the planet. This year’s theme takes that concern a step higher by directly linking it to the future as represented by the young generation whose main life mission will be redressing the catastrophic errors of the past.
“One of the features of the original concept was to visualise the ecological impact each manufactured item has on the environment. All the artists are acutely aware of this and as such have strived to reduce the impact in specific ways determined by each individual work. All the chassis for the floats were recycled and modified from older ones and the choice of materials has been carefully considered. We also challenged ourselves to recycle this year’s output into new and exciting ideas for the future years’ parades!”
“Each of the main floats has a very clear backstory. Starting with the Queen Bee Gondola, and ending with Home Sweet Home, which is just that - Manchester, the home of everyone living and working in the city, everyone accepted and everyone included."
This year's parade will feature gondolas, a steam train full of horses, a giant pram, and the iconic Queen bee in the true spirit of Manchester. Little Amal, a 3.4m tall puppet of a Syrian refugee girl who made an incredible 8,000km journey across Europe will also be part of the parade.
Young people are the focus of this year's event, which has brought new community groups on board with Manchester Day for the first time. Youngsters from across the city region have helped make some of the costumes and parade floats, with others taking part in the parade itself or singing, dancing, and helping to choreograph the event.
Councillor Pat Karney, Chair of Manchester Day, said: "What a long three years it's been! As the sun set on Manchester Day in 2019, we never dreamt it would be another three years before we would be able to get together and celebrate everything we love about our diverse city and its brilliant communities who together help make Manchester the best place in the world to be.
"This year we're dedicating it to the city's children and young people, who have missed out on so much through the pandemic. It's been a really tough couple of years for them and we're determined to help them smile again and have some fun.
"We've got tons of things going on all day right across the city centre, including of course the return of our legendary Manchester Day parade. We can't wait to welcome everyone back for Manchester's favourite free day out - it's been a long time coming, but we're finally here and Manchester Day 2022 promises to be the best - magnificently Mancunian and utterly unmissable. Come on down!"
Outdoor arts specialists Walk the Plank have been put in charge of the event once again, working with community groups and local artists throughout the past few months to help them perfect parade routines and make the famous Manchester Day floats ahead of the big day.
As always, the event is keen to do its part to help the environment, trying to reuse materials where possible and limit waste from the creation of new elements for the parade. None of the vehicles involved use fossil fuels, instead being powered by people either pushing, pulling, wheeling, or pedalling the structures along.
Liz Pugh, Walk the Plank’s Creative Producer, said: “This year, we're focusing on the contribution of children and young people to Manchester and the future of our planet, and we’re particularly excited to see how children and young people want to shape the future of our city, and how this is reflected in the parade. We know the impact of climate change is a big issue for them, and this will feature in some of the floats.
"A gondola made from scrap metal, a train powered by pedal power rather than fossil fuels, the iconic bridges of Castlefield reimagined as gardens in the sky, and ants - lots of ants! As well as great dance from the street crews, along with some of Manchester’s best loved music.
"We're also thrilled that Little Amal will join us in the celebration to take the spirit of Manchester’s youth with her as she sets off on the next stage of her journey."
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