Under a rain of petals, the Promenade des Anglais hosts in music the flower parades of Nice Carnival 2014 under the authority of the King of Gastronomy.
The Tourist Office of Nice and Nice Carnival offers visitors from all over the world an unforgettable show by parading along the beautiful big blue some magnificent floats adorned with the most beautiful flowers of the French Riviera.
Fresh flowers thrown at public
The Bataille de Fleurs (Flower Parade) procession is peppered with street art troops, horses, bands, Brazilian dancers in skimpy outfits with sensual and alluring swaying and cheerleaders with their baton, marching in in tidy rows on a well-established choreography, the whole punctuated by marching -bands .
Perched on some twenty richly flowered floats more than 6 meters high, elegantly costumed pretty mannequins launch throughout the afternoon armfuls of flowers composed mainly of gladioli, mimosas, gerberas, daisies, roses and carnations to thousands of enchanted spectators.
Some thousands of fresh flowers fly through the air to land in the arms of the lucky ones. Each is writhing arms in the air or on the side in order to harvest as much as possible and to create a beautiful and colorful and fragrant bouquet. When the party is over, each leaves with hard earned battle trophies in the arms.
A true show
The first Nice Carnival Flower Parade on the Promenade des Anglais was created in 1876 by Andriot Saëtone, and since this takes place on the prestigious seaside. Originally, they took the form of simple exchanges of flowers and gradually, turn into a real show.
Initially organized to entertain the first tourists, the European elite, battles of flowers are held to honor the work of local producers, held dear by Alphonse Karr, writer botanist attached to Nice.
Today, this event highlights the quality and great floral variety of the French Riviera since 80% of the flowers used are locally produced.
These battles are in unison with carnival floats, a procession of vegetal productions on the same theme. Their achievement is a long and meticulous work, yet done in a short time, by the florists association of flower parades. The costumes are born in a creative workshop and are unique creations, designed as for the theater
Each battle of flowers represents 8,000 stems of fresh flowers, 8,000 to 10, 000 flowers thrown on each tank, or 40 kg flowers distributed.
During the fortnight of the Nice Carnival, Nice is the world’s showcase with more than 100 media represented. Nice is exporting worldwide the know-how of elegance, beauty and charm of the flower parades.
See also our report on Nice Carnival 2014
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