Thanks to the Blackpool Museum Project*, here's a bit of background: In 1923 Blackpool began what it thought would be a new tradition, holding an annual Grand Carnival in June. It was the town's way of bringing back some of the progressive and pioneering events it had held before WW1, like the artificial sunshine show and the air show. It was also a way of filling a lull in the resort's calendar between the busy Easter and summer peaks. The 1923 carnival was a great success. It ran from 9th to 16th June and attracted two million visitors, many brought in on a fleet of extra trains and coaches.. Never had so many people travelled to Blackpool specifically for an event.
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| Blackpool's inaugural carnival procession |
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| putting the car in carnival |
The 1923 event was such a great success that the organisers immediately made plans for an even bigger and better one the following summer. The 1924 carnival ran from June 11th to 24th and once again in excess of two million people flocked to the town to enjoy the events. Unfortunately, this time there were several days with no scheduled activities, so many of the visitors spent the time drinking to excess. Drunkenness and violence were rife and marred the occasion to the extent that there was no appetite on behalf of the Corporation to host another such event. Instead the town concentrated from 1925 on holding a Festival of Lights which in turn became the world famous Blackpool Illuminations. Although Blackpool continued to put on occasional Gala Days with processions, marching bands and the like, Blackpool Carnival proper was only resurrected in 2017.
The 'centenary' Blackpool Carnival will run from July 1st to 9th 2023 and promises "a nine day extravaganza of glorious colour, music, fun and laughter" all along the promenade from north to south pier and across several stages. There will be parades, performances, food stalls. There may even be poets! Talking of poems, this week's latest from the imaginarium has only a tenuous connection to any of the foregoing.
If carnival is all ministerial privilege, excess, misrule and vulgarity on the one pudgy hand and a 'farewell to meat' (the literal meaning of carnival) for the working poor on the other skinny hand, this strange little poem might just resonate in an era where cold beans on bread and butter serve us as survival rations.
The Gaudy
An evermore ravenous darkness circles
this poor palpitating pool of light;
a cold-eyed, coal-winged world vulture
sets sights on pecking out the heart
once hope gives up on its pitiable future.
Except that the gaudy shows fight.
Its neon battledress hardly haute-couture
and its baubles implausibly slight,
it vows never to be extinguished as easily
as its tormentor anticipates. In part
emboldened by tracts of previous sutures,
nerved by its sense of what's right,
it withstands such relentless intimidation
as causes dark to query its might.
And even as intimations of black eternity
seek to extinguish its brave spirit,
sheer willpower not to relinquish rapture
allows the gaudy to remain bright.
*Showtown, the new 'museum of fun and entertainment' in Blackpool is scheduled to open in 2023.
Thanks for reading, S ;-)
14 comments:
"Drunkenness and violence were rife..." sounds like Blackpool! 🤣
I like the poem. We all shine on.
Fascinating they brought in French craftsman to make those extraordinary large festive heads.
:)
Splendid. I have written July 1-9 in my 2023 diary. I will be wearing a sequined onesy and a long feathered tail.
Your loyalty is commendable, but the reinstated Blackpool carnival is still little more than a gala event. As for centenary, that's a bit tenuous. Still, good luck to it as the town needs all the good publicity and tourist revenue it can attract.
I didn't know the Illuminations were as recent as 1925.
Fascinating that they brought in craftsmen from Nice.
What an interesting article - as usual.
Up the Gaudy
What is a Gaudy? (Think I'm losing my grip.)
That's interesting Steve. I didn't know Blackpool had a carnival week (and for most of the last 100 years it seems it didn't). I suppose it will always be overshadowed by the Illuminations but I wish it success. I love some of the imagery in your Gaudy poem.
Enjoyed this. Those papier-mache heads look great on the newsreel you linked. That's proper carnival. What a shame it didn't become a regular feature of Blackpool life.
I'm sure I read somewhere that the original Blackpool carnival featured a mock battle and a banquet on the sands. Is that true? And is the gaudy the spirit of the illuminations?
Loved the vintage photos and footage. It's a shame the carnival got axed. Still, there's lots of other events that bring people to the town in the summer.
Maybe the Corporation tried to overreach itself. It wouldn't be the first or the last time ;)
Interesting. I was under the impression that most sizeable seaside towns had some sort of carnival every year. Obviously not. The graphic of Downing Street struck me as out of place, but I like the spirit of your Gaudy poem.
I don't mean to subvert your austerity narrative, for the Tories are truly awful, but actually cold baked beans on bread and butter is both tasty and nutritious.
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