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Opening Celebrations
Cork’s designation as European Capital of Culture was officially launched on Saturday 8 January 2005. In the biggest event of its type ever undertaken in Ireland, Cork celebrated the start of the designation in a spectacular array of pyrotechnic effects, an international carnival and a street party for 80,000 revellers in the city centre.
President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, officially opened Cork 2005, European Capital of Culture at a special civic reception in City Hall on the afternoon of 8 January. The ceremony included the premiere of a specially commissioned theatrical production ‘The Red Sun’, written by Ray Scannell and performed by 106 children from Cork’s Children’s Chorus, signifying the city’s formal acceptance of the designation.
As the ceremonies were taking place in City Hall, the celebrations got under way on the streets of the city with an international street carnival. Twenty seven acts, comprising 180 performers from all over the world, brought the streets to life with the sound of samba music and urban drum and base and the sight of fire eaters, circus acts and giant puppeteers. With 10 individual carnival performance areas located throughout Patrick Street, Grand Parade and South Mall, the Cork 2005 Carnival was a sight to behold. From MaSamba’s feathered carnival queens, to Buí Bolg’s Hillbilly Giants, to the Cork Community Circus firey dragons – acts 
from around Europe traveled to Cork to help young and old alike to celebrate Cork 2005.
The centrepiece performance, the National Lottery/Cork 2005 Awakening Ceremony and Fireworks, was the most spectacular outdoor event Ireland has ever seen, with pyrotechnic displays throughout the city lighting up the Cork sky from Shandon to Schull.
Devised by street theatre company, Waterford Spraoi, with a team of event experts, ‘Awakening’ brought to life a huge serpent stretching over 600 metres of the River Lee. As it rose up from the water, the serpent spanned three city centre bridges in an explosion of light and fire with water effects, pyrotechnics, music, image projection and physical theatre. The amazing visual display, broadcast live on RTÉ television, was the most daring of its kind ever undertaken in Ireland.
Over 100 performers and technicians from across Ireland and Europe dedicated months of preparation to the performance, taking their inspiration from mythological legends of how the River Lee came to wind through the Red City.
Following ‘Awakening’, fireworks experts Merlin Fireworks staged the biggest fireworks display ever witnessed in Ireland. Thousand’s of the world’s most spectacular effects were computer choreographed to a custom-made soundtrack and fired from six separate sites around the city in a 15-minute spectacular featuring several tonnes of shells, flares and mines.
A number of Cork 2005 projects also commenced during the opening celebratory weekend. Venues opened their doors throughout the city, providing a sample of the cultural activity which would be on offer in Cork throughout 2005.