The Chester Midsummer Festival of 2009 will mark the 20th anniversary of the Midsummer Watch Parade with the addition of a colourful, new festival called Chester the Giant City.
The new festival, which will take place in June, will celebrate the f
ascinating history of the Giants of Chester, an ever-expanding fleet of man-made, towering structures that is the main feature of the Watch Parade.
Plans include cultural events orientated around local history, street theatre and giant-building competitions.
The Watch Parade itself is expected to grow from the addition of several new giants.
The festival committee steering group is asking anyone to come forward with ideas to help to further develop what can be incorporated in the event.
Steering group chairman David Pickering said: "The idea behind Chester the Giant City is to build up the giant Midsummer Watch Parade and to make it bigger next year.
"People will hear the word 'giant' and think, is Chester that big?
"It's a word teaser sort of thing, but it's actually to draw people to Chester and to make it stand out."
The historic giants, which have been in Chester for more than 500 years, are well represented throughout various city celebrations, such as this year's St Werburgh Pilgrimage and the Mystery Plays.
They were banished under Henry Hardware, a Puritan mayor who saw the parade and the giants as ungodly, and were not reintroduced for almost 300 years until 1989.
Although they were a common feature of Tudor pageantry, Chester is unique in that the city paraded a whole family – the father, the mother and two daughters.
The current fleet has grown to include giant beasts such as a unicorn, an elephant, and a dragon.
Among competition ideas is one to build a 30ft to 40ft giant.
Kristine Szulik, a director of La Brigata, the organisation behind Chester Midsummer Festival, said: "The idea is to use the concept 'giant' as creatively as possible.
"The focus of a committee meeting on August 8 turned to the notion of physically creating giants, in much the same way there is the Angel of the North; cows in Manchester; and lambananas in Liverpool."
Kristine, who came up with the giant theme, is hoping the plans will focus national and international attention on a city which already attracts many tourists every year to its summer festivities.
They also plan to re-launch the Chester Pageant in 2010 in time for its 100-year anniversary.
The full article contains 432 words and appears in Evening Leader Wrexham newspaper.
