As always, the three-days long festival culminates in a spectacular creative parade Sunday night. Every parade has a theme. Source To Sea is the theme for this year’s 25th anniversary Parade. It is all about River Suir.
I have written about River Suir on many occasions, and I know I will write again :).
River Suir is 185 km ( 115 mi) long with the average flow rate of 76.9 cubic metres per second – and we love every drop of it! River Suir begins on the slopes of Devil’s Bit Mountain in County Tipperary and flows south to Waterford Harbour where she enters the Atlantic Ocean.
River Suir flows past many castles, and she has witnessed many bloody battles.
Snaking through the countryside, River Suir grows in size and beauty. She is a home to many creatures, real and mystical, and her secrets are well kept, some of them hidden in the thick of her islands.
Here is everything you need to know about River Suir – animals, fowl, fairies and humans living here since the world began.
It is literally raining on our parade, but the rain is not going to bring our spirit down.
Heron is one of my Suir favorites. These birds are perfect for slow shutter speed shots since they can stay motionless for hours. This one has caught a rainbow trout and now is trying to swallow it whole.
Some walking exercises after a great lunch.
They have a heron here too. No fish eating demonstrations though.
They even have an otter! I don’t have any picture of a live otter…
Many floats represent fishing.
And of course there is a fish. A gigantic Rainbow trout.
This mechanical swan looks very real.
An army of dragonflies and their Queen.
And of course nothing of this would have happened without 200 artists and volunteers.
The Parade ended at a quarter to 11 pm concluded with firework finale which I never take pictures of. Fireworks are for watching.
Thank you for visiting SPRAOI and River Suir!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Making memories 
Your super photos of the festival makes me even more excited about Halloween and reading your story. 🎃
Thank you Dead D! I think I will post it Sunday, closer to the date 😉 Hope you a having a great time costume shopping and decorating. I have got myself a lovely black outfit, and my daughter supplied me with a fine hat. Getting ready 🙂
I shall be waiting with bated breath for your fine story! Halloween is my favorite day of the year — many thanks for your lovely wishes, Lady Inese. Have fun dressing up, and I’m sure you’ll be bewitching. 🌹
Thank you sunshine! ❤
Wonderful images!
Thank you Luisa!
Wonderful photos of the festival, Inese. I haven’t been to a SPRAOI in years. I’ve so much to catch up on, now that I’m not working full time anymore.
Jean it is understandable. Hotels are booked out, and parking is a pain. I used to live in Tipperary, and hadn’t seen the SPRAOI parade for years.
You’ve captured the energy of the dazzling parade, Inese. Thank you for a lovely experience!
Thank you for stopping by! We love our parade 🙂
I for some reason came back to see your reply and couldn’t find my comment. Oops! I thought I mentioned the gorgeous theatrical costumes and floats. The heron in the stream and the goose getting ready for flight arrested my favorites, Inese. Sorry, dear I thought I left a comment. . . I love wildlife and birds, of course! 😉 Hugs, Robin 🐦🏵
Robin, don’t worry, you have left so many comments, I am very grateful for your support ❤ Yes, the costumes and floats were fantastic. A year of work xx
This truly demonstrates a unified community spirit and everyone pitches in to celebrate. 🎭 🎆
🙂
It looks fabulous fun. 🙂 🙂
Thank you! For some reason it is almost always raining during the parade, but we wouldn’t move 🙂 Lucky tourists can watch it from their hotel rooms 🙂
Wonderful photographs! Eye popping!
Thank you 🙂 The works are beautiful. I have another blog post from the festival scheduled for tonight.
Wow, beautiful photos!
Thank you 🙂
Fabulous!
Magical! Great photos!
Thank you Cynthia. We love our SPRAOI 🙂
matched*
That’s amazing, once again. I loved how you marched the pictures from the parade with the ones from nature 🙂
Thank you! This year the theme was River Suir, and I thought that some nature pictures will be appropriate 🙂
This speaks so highly of the firey artistic spirit around you. Our parades are never, EVER, so awesome. xxxxxx
This one is 25 years old. Everything is taken care of and thought through. We are already waiting for the next one 🙂
I am, too! Your photos of it, anyway. 🙂
Thank you 🙂 xx