Parading in the rain in all our glory...

Street Parade

The parade was preceded by the now legendary Velocity pool party with Goldfish on the stage and body shots... well, er, on various parts of various people's anatomy! Dashing back for a quick change, Loerie guests were treated to drinks and finger food at pre-party venues along Loerie Laan (the beachfront), while waiting for the parade.

Despite the rain, the parade provided the usual eclectic mix of characters from around and about Margate, from drum majorettes and a school matching band, to jugglers on stilts and unicycles, fire eaters, sexy girls in a variety of skimpy gear, the Porsche club, biker okes, emergency response, lifeguards, firemen and their big fire hoses, various local talent in costume, and some, well, we're not sure... and of course the Bizcommunity.com girls with their Media Hype TV backpacks! A highlight again were the 'sound off boys' - Divesh, Gresh and Codi 1 (according to the number plates on their souped up cars) - who revved and spun their wheels up the drag.

Wet wet wet

The transport to the venue was a damper again, with taxis this time instead of buses and confusion as to how to get up to the venue. Transporting 2000 people to any venue is a challenge and Margate really has to try harder to try find a venue within REAL walking distance - not at the end of 120 steps up a steep hill, followed by another badly lit steep hill in the rain in high heels. There was also no parking for anyone coming from outside Margate in a car. Guests were all expected to congregate in Margate to catch a minibus taxi.

Although the show started about an hour late due to the late arrival of most guests, the organisers did keep it to a slick two hours, with proceedings finishing at about 10pm. Entertainers Malaika and Fat Boy kept the "bling/hip hop" theme going. DJ Fresh and his crew, in front of an awesome screen of images, wowed the crowd, using everything including his teeth to 'scratch'. It was definitely a more professional event staging than the previous year, although the spontaneity of the screamingly funny blowup sea animals fight of the first night last year was missing. In a snap poll Sunday morning the MC, comedian Nick Rabinowitz, was described as unprofessional and off-colour and the taxi service (a third of which dropped people in the dark and rain on the wrong side of the venue and left another third stranded in Margate not knowing where to go), as ghastly.

The Heat 'After Glow' party at Seagulls was as jam-packed as Backline the other afterparty venue, with people packed in like sardines, doing what this industry does best (apart from making award-winning ads) - partying and drinking!

Copywriters needed...

Pick up lines overheard at the Backline... "Where were you five years ago when I was looking for my wife?" "Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?" Clearly not copywriters... must have been art directors...

And just because you have a hangover, it doesn't mean you have to turn up looking like something the cat dragged in. Every trendy creative still makes the time to co-ordinate his outfit. Take Bevan Cullinan for example... despite a hard night on the tiles, he still managed to go with a fetching skull theme on Sunday morning at the Mugg&Bean... his black beanie sporting a skull contrasted nicely with his red T-shirt with yet another skull in white, complimented with a chunky skull ring! An inspiration to the rest in vomit-stained shoes and last night's clothes...

Jupiter continued with their cheeky campaign started at breakfast on the Saturday (with a breakfast special at the M&B reading "breakfast with Jupiter is better than waking up with someone from Ogilvy") turning up on Sunday wearing T-shirts with an email: .

There's no doubt that Margate is reaping the rewards already of an industry that knows how to have fun - a waiter at the Mugg&Bean reported making R1000 in tips Saturday night and Friday night was apparently the first time the establishment's bar bill exceeded its food bill!