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Sunday, 29 March 2009

Carnaval à Bléré

Carnival in full swing in the centre of Bléré



Ready to fire the cannon

Today was the biannual carnival for the Canton of Bléré and for this edition the circus was the theme. Starting at around 3pm the parade made its nosiy and spectacular way from la gare at La Croix en Touraine across the River Cher, through Bléré and to the Gatiné just to the east of the centre of the town.

A giraffe on a Bléré road

Photo call before the start

Having a ball before the start

Getting ready

Quartet of giraffes heading towards the start

Smoke signalling the start of the parade



Oi you! Get out of the way!
East bound train passes

Confetti for sale

Buying confetti

Heading over the Cher

Crowd waiting for parade to enter Bléré's main street


Brownies for sale







White rabbit salutes Michel Mergot, maire of Epeigné-les-Bois



Civray's float
On the ball.....

On fire........



@la Gâtine

Epeigné stand@La Gatine

Michel Mergot inspects the Epeigné stand

Filming the spectacle

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5 comments:

  1. Mark30 March 2009 at 15:07

    Great photos Jim. A very memorable day for all of the Epeigne contingent. I showed your site to a couple of the organisers of the Carnaval today - they were very impressed.

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  2. Jim's Loire30 March 2009 at 17:20

    Thanks Mark. It was a good day, although Carole and I wondered whether overall there weren't some opportunities to fund raise missed but may be that wasn't the intention.

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  3. Mark30 March 2009 at 21:24

    The sale of confetti and items from the various stands raises money to meet the costs of the floats of the different communes who each pay their own costs. In this way the cost of the floats doesn't fall upon the commune residents. The Telethon is the main charitable fund raising opportunity, and many communes participate in that also.

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  4. Jan-Tore Egge31 March 2009 at 06:47

    Looks like great fun.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jim's Loire31 March 2009 at 07:52

    JT. Yes it was great fun and spectacular.

    ReplyDelete