The Children's Festival at the weekend in the Waterworks was a huge success and our appreciation has to go to each and every single person who helped make that happen.
At a lengthy meeting of the Friends of the Waterworks last night in Belfast Castle Claire Kelly from Young At Art revealed that 11,000 people happily spent time in the park over the May 31/ June 1 weekend enjoying the fabulous events in the glorious sunshine.
I walked round the park three times on Saturday and it was clear that all parts of the park were being utilised to its fullest.
There was a marquee at the lower part of the park, the viking story boat was elegantly gliding its way through the water in the lower pond, which was made bright blue specially for the event while up in the top end of the park fishermen and their fly fishing techniques had kids swarming for a look. The EHS stall was pretty busy, not sure whether it was down to the free bags they were handing out or not, while a jazz band, under the shade of a tree, filled the air with relaxing rhythms.
The outdoor cinema in the Westland part of the park was crammed all day long. According to Claire there were kids wearing NI footie tops, and Celtic and Rangers jerseys sitting side by side and not a bother on them they were so engrossed in the wonders of Finding Nemo, James and the Giant Peach, the Wizard of Oz and Charlotte's Web.
And the white windmills planted close to houses in the Westland estate, designed by artist Tomas Finnegan and the wind tunnels by Clare Lawlor at the Antrim Road entrance were just fabulous.
There was tons of security in the park I noticed, city council staff and PSNI vehicles. And from what I understand they were able to stamp out any ugly incidents that arose, of which there was a few.
But, all in all, the festival organisers, which includes local group New Lodge Arts, performed a magic job and I sincerely hope they bring it back next year.
Funding supplied from the Arts Council and North Belfast's Community Empowerment Partnerships must also be acknowledged.
It's clear to see people love this park and they will flock to it's pathways if any organisation makes an effort to stage family orientated events.
That's why the people like Claire and New Lodge Arts, Friends of the Waterworks and the Families at the Waterworks fishing group continue to volunteer their time and spent hours devoted towards making this park a better place.
They do it, quite simply, because it's North Belfast's jewel in the crown.
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