Community turns out for daytime Three Kings’ Cavalcade

Floats, bands and walking floats made their way from Casemates through a packed Main Street up to the Ince’s Hall Theatre in this year’s Three Kings’ Cavalcade.

For the first time the Cavalcade was held at 2pm due to forecast inclement weather but did not deter the crowds, with children and families lining Main Street with excitement and anticipation to see the various floats pass by.

Sweets were distributed prior to the passing by of the floats as well as during the drive by, as has been the case in recent years.

Nine floats threw their names in the hat to be in with a chance of a prize, with various non-competitive floats also adding to the spectacle.

Judging took place prior to the floats setting off, with prizes up for grabs for the top three in both the senior and junior sections.

The McGrail Family scooped the top prize in the senior section with their Great Gatsby Themed float.

Kelly McGrail Trico from the McGrail family told the Chronicle that inspiration for the Great Gatsby float came from her 40th birthday celebrations which took place last year.

This is the second year that the family has entered the cavalcade, which consists of three generations of the McGrail family and their partners all working together to construct and decorate their float.

“It’s a family float, the idea came because last year for my 40th birthday the theme was the Great Gatsby, so we all had our costumes and we decided to recycle them and that’s where the theme came from,” she said.

“It’s been a lot of hard work; my father and uncle constructed the whole float out of wood.”

“Everything is hand-painted, we were all very creative, everything has been done by hand.”

‘We are family’, who had for some 10 years entered the Cavalcade as the Balloqui family but changed their name to include much of the extended family taking part in the float, took the second prize in the senior section for their Shrek themed float.

Zyna Smith, who has been involved in the efforts for the family’s float, said that their Shrek theme would entertain the children while giving enjoyable music for those in attendance.

“We have been doing the cavalcade for 10 years now,” she said.

“We tried to get a theme that everybody likes, especially the kids, it has good music behind it, so everyone can join in.”

“We have been preparing since August, with the main bit being done in the space of a week and a half at the Coach Park.”

‘Nautical Nonsense’ which was Spongebob themed by El Martillo Ltd and Boluda Towage Gibraltar took the third prize.

Davina Mañasco who has been involved with the preparations for the float said that “blood sweat and tears” had gone into preparing the float.

“Everyone put in a tremendous effort,” she said.

“It’s a joint effort between the two companies, we normally work together every year to put this together.”

“We work mainly in maritime, every time we do a float it is normally maritime themed.”

“And this year we wanted to do something for the children, so we thought spongebob was a good fit.”

The Gibraltar Horticultural Society and the Gibraltar Rugby Football Union also entered floats into the senior category.

As for the junior section, the Roberts family’s Grinch themed float took the top prize.

Sarah Jane Roberts said their winning float had been years in the making, with her 14-year-old daughter Maddie coming up with the idea two years ago.

The design was completed in June, with works having already begun in October.

Their entry this year was the third occasion in which the family has taken part in the cavalcade.

“The idea was Maddie’s, we did our last one two years ago and since then she has been planning this,” Ms Roberts said.

“I opted for the mermaid, but she has gone for the Grinch, and obviously it was a great choice.”

“She’s done the designing, and everyone has worked hard with all of the materials.”

Local business Party Pop’s float based on Disney’s ‘Up’ film took second.

Elaine Francis, who owns the business, said her family all stepped in to help with the float in what was their first time entering the Cavalcade.

“Because we do parties and balloons we thought that this theme was fitting.”

“We have all worked on it during the Christmas break, we started doing some of the props beforehand as they took more time than we thought.”

“It’s been fun, I’d definitely enter again,” she added.

The Youth Service’s float based on Disney’s ‘Inside Out 2’ film took the third prize.

Aroa Nuñez of the Youth Service said their float was a culmination of efforts from an array of young people and staff at the service.

“We’ve done the Cavalcade for many years,” she said.

She said that the Inside Out theme was fitting for the youth service to do.

“The new Inside Out movie has come out, some young people have gone to watch it and when we discussed about the theme, we always ask young people because they are the core of the work that we do.”

“I think Inside Out is a great theme because it talks about emotions, it’s about puberty and becoming an adult.”

Various floats also took part as non-competitive entrants, this included GBC marking their 60th anniversary with their Magic Garden float, JBS with their Alice in Wonderland float, and the Musicians Association of Gibraltar with Yalta Dance Studio taking part for the second time with a 60s themed float.

President of the Three Kings' Cavalcade Committee, Eric Abudarham said he wanted to ensure that the Cavalcade still took place on January 5.

The event had been moved forward 2pm due to forecast rain in the first time in its 68-year history, Mr Abudarham said.

The usual start time of the Cavalcade is 7.30pm.

Despite the new start time, Mr Abudarham said “everything has gone smoothly after a lot of work to bring it forward”.

“My committee has worked extremely hard to get this done, we are thankful to all the people involved, participants, judges, the police with everything they have had to do to accelerate the searches and everything health and safety wise,” he said.

“At the end of the day we are happy with everything.”

“It is a bit surreal to have it at 2pm.”