All you want for a July Christmas is…
The party starts on Thursday and ends around 8.15am on Sunday when the last drunk guy stumbles down Victoria Street, swearing at the street poles on the route
So the Dundee July is upon us again.
The party starts on Thursday and ends around 8.15am on Sunday when the last drunk guy stumbles down Victoria Street, swearing at the street poles on the route.
The event has become synonymous with questions which you normally ask your friends. Questions such as ‘what do you want for Christmas?’ Or ‘what would you do if you won the Lotto?’ – the only difference is that most people wish they could run a bottle store for three days in July.
With Endumeni Municipality dishing out around R900 000 – even though about 38 street lights do not even work in the town – to the event, it has become a much-sought-after occasion.
A bit like the Bull Run in Pamplona (it helps to be drunk if you plan to run in front of a platoon of charging bulls), the Oktoberfest in Munich, which attracts over 6 million people (who have an excuse to be drunk) or the more genteel Strawberry Festival in California – there is also one in George – where everyone sips good wine.
Here, we choose Heineken, expensive whisky and loud music. The accommodation places are full thanks to the Department of Sport who dish out money to sponsor everyone’s stay. The only hope is that those who were burning tyres and blocking roads in Dundee over the past few weeks do not descend on the tent town that goes up at the Racetrack on Wednesday in preparation of the big day.
The trick would be of course to invite all those guys to the VVIP tents and make them feel special.
There is also the wrangle brought to the MEC for Sports attention of outside people getting all the catering tenders and tent tenders. They have a point there. There are plenty of circuses in this town each with its own tent and there are enough take away places etc. to cater for any occasion. Why bring someone up from Durban just to make chicken?
Security? Well, that could be a tough one.
There are so many wrangles over security tenders that it may be just a good idea to rope in a few of our trusty car guards and let them earn a few Bob for the day. Our only thoughts are – gee, if anyone decides to burn a few tyres on Victoria Street on Saturday, it will be chaos. The traffic will shudder to a halt and the 10 000 extra vehicles that seem to suddenly beam down to Dundee will have nowhere to go. Perhaps we can start a speedy home catering service to feed stranded drivers?
