Joining the national celebrations on St. Stephen’s Day the 20th August is going to be an unforgettable day for all in Debrecen. It is going to be unforgettable for the organizers of the carnival since they prepare the event with many good ideas, much teamwork and creativity. It is going to be unforgettable for the visitors too because they will witness a spectacular event with much fun and thrill that ensure hilarious carnival feeling.
The Flower Carnival is a one week long fiesta in Debrecen: the programmes start on 15th August and last until the 21st, meanwhile the flower cars are exhibited not only in Debrecen but on other locations as well. Last year we got to know the cabala figure of the carnival, a nice and sweet little flower, who is going to take part in this year’s carnival as well.
The history of the Flower Carnival dates back to the beginning of the last century: in September 1900 the Debreczen Civil Bicycle Association organised a bicycle competition on the association’s new field. The highlight of the competition – reported the newspaper of the age – was a large-scale flower corso. This picture in which a young man with a moustache stands holding a bicycle decorated with flowers must have been taken then. Five years later in 1905 the Debrecen Ambulance Association organised an other flower corso in the town’s main street in order to collect money for an ambulance car since in the town that time when somebody had an accident, it took much time to find a doctor.
Since 1966 apart from some breaks the Flower Carnival has been held every year in Debrecen on 20th August. In the beginning only Hungarian groups participated, after a few years foreign groups were also invited. Now the carnival is a spectacular event with beautiful flower cars and dance groups coming from Debrecen, her sister cities and other countries as well. The carnival is increasingly popular and is the most visited event of the city. Carnival time the number of Debrecen’s population is doubled.
In 2009 the Debrecen Flower Carnival celebrated its 40th anniversary. On this occasion recalling the beginnings a bicycle parade was held and a sun-dial made of 40 thousand flowers was set up in Baltazár Dezső Square.
Preparations
The organisers start preparing months before the carnival, the cars’ decoration starts 2-3 weeks before the event. In the first years only fresh flowers were used, recently the use of dry flowers has increased. For the decoration of a flower car as many as 150-250 thousand fresh flowers are used depending on the subject.
Traditionally firms and companies finance the cars, usually 15-16 a year, for which 3 million flowers are used altogether. The first car is always the Hungarian Holy Crown, then come the other compositions with the scenes of popular tales.
The parade
The carnival starts at 8 a.m. in Petőfi Square and goes through the city on a 5 km long route up until the Nagyerdei Stadium. Between the spectacular flower cars the invited dance groups and bands entertain the public. The parade arrives at the stadium at around 10 a.m. where the cars and the performers go around showing their best to the audience and the jury who awards the most beautiful cars and the best groups later the day. After the parade in the afternoon visitors can take a closer look at the flower cars and watch the performance of the groups in the stadium. The flower cars and the performers march through the city again in evening but this time on a shorter route. Fireworks and a street party close the carnival at night. During the day on 20th August other colourful carnival programmes are held on several locations of the city.
The parade is for free standing by the streets. Tickets are available for street grandstands (Piac Street, Hunyadi Street, Egyetem Avenue) and in the Nagyerdei Stadium.
The route of the parade
Petőfi Square – Piac Street – Hunyadi Street – Bethlen Street – Egyetem Avenue – Egyetem Square – Nagyerdei Boulevard – Pallagi Nagerdei Stadium
15-21 August 2011
15th August, Monday
16:00 Kölcsey Centre:
War of flowers – 3rd Flower arrangement competition
Flowers in pictures – Photo exhibition
Clean Yard - Tidy House – Award Ceremony
Cactus exhibition and fair
16th August, Tuesday
17:30 Baltazár Dezső Square:
Performance of the Debrecen Youth Orchestra and Majorette Group
19:30 Kölcsey Centre:
Classical music light
Featuring: Choir of the Csokonai Theatre, Lautitia Children’s Choir, Corpus Trombone Quartet, Daniel Somogyi-Tóth and Dániel Sárosi (organists), Marianna Bódi, Lajos Wagner and Zsolt Haja (opera singers)
Ferenc Kölcsey memorial plaque inauguration ceremony
17th August, Wednesday
16:00 – 20:00 Baltazár Dezső Square:
Childen’s programmes
19:00 Baltazár Dezső Square:
Dance performances
19:00 Kossuth Square:
Folk dance with 650 dancers
Holdviola concert
18th August, Thursday
10:00 – 20:00 Kölcsey Centre:
Carnival hair-show
16:00 – 20:00 Baltazár Dezső Square:
Childen’s programmes
17:00 – 19:30 Baltazár Dezső Square:
Knights’ tournament
18:00 Kossuth Square:
Dance Show featuring the Carnival groups
19:00 Baltazár Dezső Square:
Dance performances
20:00 MODEM Art Centre:
Festival Garden
20:00 Kossuth Square:
Ricardo Salsa Club – Cuban salsa show
19th August, Friday
16:00 – 20:00 Baltazár Dezső Square:
Children’s programmes
16:00 Baltazár Dezső Square:
Our special guest is the city of Cegléd!
Concert of the Cegléd Brass Orchestra
Charity Noodle Festival for the Feeding Kids Foundation
18:00 Kossuth Square:
Dance Show featuring the Carnival groups
19:00 Baltazár Dezső Square:
Dance performances
20:00 MODEM Art Centre:
Festival Garden
20:00 Kossuth Square:
Queen Memorial Concert Show
7:30 Bem Square:
Raising the national flag with military saluting
8:00 Streets of Debrecen:
Bike marching
8:00 – 12:00 Streets of Debrecen:
Carnival parade of flower cars and dance groups
9:00 – 17:00 Déri Square:
County Stage
10:00 – 17:00 Nagyerdei Stadium:
Live picture and live music
10:00 – 18:00 Békás Pond and its area:
Bike Corso
14:00 Fazekas Memorial Garden (Vármegyeháza Street):
Wreath-laying ceremony
14:30 Déri Square:
Wreath-laying ceremony at the St. Stephen’s plaque
14:30 Nagyerdei Stadium:
Flower Carnival Cars in a close shot – Exhibition of the carnival flower cars
15:30 Nagyerdei Stadium:
Dance! Music! Fun! – Performance of the carnival groups
16:00 Baltazár Dezső Square:
Flower arrangement - flower poetry – a spectacular presentation of master florists
18:00 Bem Square:
Hauling down the national flag with military saluting
20:00 City centre:
Evening carnival parade
22:00 Kossuth Square:
Street party
21th August, Sunday
20:00 Kossuth Square:
Carnival Plus: concerts of Ildikó Keresztes, Viktor Varga and Kati Wolf (Eurovision Song Contest 2011, Hungarian contestant)
More carnival programme offers:
15-21 August, Kölcsey Centre:
Cactus exhibition and fair
15-21 August, Piac Street:
Carnival Shop Window 2011
20-21 August, Főnix Events Hall:
Exhibition of carnival flower cars
4-21 August 16:00-22:00, Csapó street pedestrian zone:
Little Rio - Latin-American atmosphere in the street - Coctails, zumba, hairdressing, belly dancers, DJ, salsa, capoeira, dance groups, jugglers, mixers
Sales points: Kölcsey Centre, Tourinform office, InterTicket
