Greece: “Verka” in the largest European Carnival parade

by Stella Floras 132 views

The Carnival of Patras, Greece, is the oldest and largest one of its kind in the country and the whole of Europe. Every year, about 500.000 people flock to the Peloponese city to attend the festivities and watch the parade. This year, the Carnival will have a Eurovision flavour as there will be a Verka Serduchka crew parading the streets on 9th March.

The Patras Carnival is much more than a week of festivities for the locals. It is more like a way of life, an all year round occupation. The Carnival festivities last for several days peaking on the last Sunday of the Carnival with the grand – almost 3 kilometer long -parade with more than 50.000 participants. Many different themed groups and floats dance away in the main streets while music plays full blast throughout the city. This year, Eurovision fans are in for a surprise as among the numerous crews there will be one they will easily recognise. Verka Serduchka finds her way all the way from Ukraine to Greece as a group of fans pays tribute to the 2007 Eurovision runner-up.

We asked Yiorgos Papanikolaou, the captain of the Verka group, to tell us a bit more about their project this year : “ The idea was born when we saw Verka on stage in Helsinki. We thought “That should make a great theme for the carnival!”. And being from Patras we combined our two great loves, the Carnival and Eurovision.”

There are just a few vacancies in the Verka crew opento anyone who would like to join. Interested fans may email here for more information.

Stella Floras

Thanks to Johnny Logan and Hold me now I fell in love with the Eurovision Song Contest, a love that's been going strong ever since with undiminished passion. My first memories date back to 1977 and the lyrics of Rock bottom, Dschinghis Khan and A ba ni bi are still engraved in my brain.

I joined esctoday.com in 2006 as a junior editor after being invited by Barry Viniker, I soon became Senior Editor and during the 2007 contest in Helsinki I was appointed Head of Communications. Today I hold the post of Head of Human Resources and I am proud to be working with the best editorial team in the world.