Christmas lights on St patrick's street

Went in tonight to see the turning on of the christmas lights, and what a disaster it was,

the sound quality was terrible, from the choir which either wasn't good at all, or didn't come across well through the sound system used (i am not sure which applies) or the volume of the speakers,
up by the front you were deafened and when the music was performed the interference noise was terrible, the children were covering their ears when the music was on, yet when the radio station dj was speaking it was audible, clear and not too loud,

people standing by dunnes/GQ were complaining that they couldn't hear anything,

last year the children were given balloons, and cans of 7up/pepsi, and some crisps and entertained by the panto stars, this year i saw nothing but the odd green or orange balloon, (and i mean at max 10 balloons),

the lights were said to be turned on by 6pm, by 6,10 an announcement was made we would have them turned on in 20-30 minutes after another two songs from the 'choir'.

the children were getting bored, tired and cranky as the choir were performing songs like away in a manger and some ridiculous 'rap' as opposed to last year when it was songs such as "santa claus is coming to town" and "jingle bells" (although that was played after the event) last year the children sang along while the guy told us santa was on the way (and gave us regular updates) this year the first mention of Santa was just before he popped up from behind the choir on the stage, last year he arrived behind the stage and walked through the crowd meeting and greeting the children before going on stage. it just felt such a let down as such a buzz was created last year by the children meeting santa, this year there was none of that.

and the fact it felt that it was dragged out so much by the radio station involved was irritating, there was no need for it and they could have filled the time with a more productive show. And it meant that literally in 5 minutes after santa arrived it was all over, they placed the emphasis on the choir rather than the real reasons the children were there, to see santa and the lights.

the guest speakers were brought on at almost 6.30 and our lovely deputy lord mayor got the name of the radio station wrong instead thanking their rival radio station for the event, she stumbled over every word and to be honest it came across like she was just thrown in last minute with no preparation.

Brendan O Connor was surprisingly the best part, he was very funny, well spoken and imo was the only part of tonight i enjoyed,

after the lights were switched on there was a mass exodus of people, which lead to crushing and traffic issues, there was no park and ride open, most private car parks were closed, which lead to chaos for people parking in the city. imagine patricks day with no park and ride and no private car parks.

the lights being turned on was the main event, except the lights on oliver plunkett street and surrounding streets weren't turned on, in fact as you walk down patrick street from princes street to brown thomas there are no lights crossing the street and looks like the only decorations are ones the shops themselves put up.

overall it felt to me like they took last years, and made it worse. what was surprising was the crowds this year were much bigger, maybe they weren't prepared for that but still.

tl:dr crushing amongst people and bad sound, long drawn out event, and bad organisation.

was it just me or did anyone else find this event was a disaster?


edit- just re-read and It sounds like i am moaning, maybe i am, like i said Brendan O Connor was pretty much the only positive, him and the beautiful colourful christmas tree at the end of the south mall more colours like that are needed on the streets of Cork at Christmas.