Residents of what this publication has, after a brief and entirely unresearched glance at a map, confirmed is “the Rochdale end of Preston” are being urged to gather on Fishergate this Thursday, 30 April, for the grand launch of Canopy of Colour, a 700-metre aerial art installation designed to prove that if you dangle enough decorative objects above a high street, people will briefly forget the price of everything.
The installation, billed as the largest spring and summer aerial display in the UK, will see more than 300 decorative elements suspended over the street in a blaze of colour and warm lighting, giving shoppers the rare chance to wander beneath what can best be described as a municipal fever dream. Officials say it will create a vibrant, immersive experience. Cynics, meanwhile, have suggested it is essentially bunting with ambition.
Reporting from down the M62, this paper understands the scheme will transform Fishergate into a dazzling seasonal attraction, or at the very least into a place where pigeons must now navigate an obstacle course worthy of the SAS. Either way, Preston, long known for having a street, is expected to come alive with celebration, civic pride and the low-level confusion that accompanies any event featuring both the Mayor and people called the SpudBros.
The SpudBros, described as popular local personalities and, one assumes, the inevitable outcome of a town giving up on subtlety, said they were “absolutely buzzing” that something this big was happening in Preston. Their remarks have been welcomed by officials, who remain keen to secure support from anyone capable of generating public enthusiasm while standing near carbohydrates.
Entertainment on the night will come from Street Monkeys, Preston’s own parkour and stunt team, whose role appears to be hurling themselves around beneath several hundred suspended objects in a display of confidence that insurers would usually classify as performance art. Also taking part in the ceremony will be celebrated florist Margaret Mason, marking her 90th birthday in the most British way imaginable: by being asked to lend quiet dignity to an event involving dangling ornaments, stuntmen and local radio presenters.
The festivities will be hosted by John Gillmore, who will guide proceedings with the steady hand of a man fully aware that civic launches now require the energy of a royal wedding crossed with the opening of a garden centre. Members of the business community are also expected to attend, no doubt eager to celebrate creativity, sustainability and the possibility that illuminated foliage might persuade someone to buy a sandwich.
Organisers insist the evening will be memorable for the whole community, which is usually the sort of thing said shortly before someone’s uncle walks into a bollard while filming on Facebook Live. Still, for one night at least, Fishergate will glow beneath a canopy of colour, hope and several tonnes of unspoken council optimism.
The free family-friendly launch takes place from 6.30pm on Thursday 30 April on Fishergate, Preston, which this newsroom will continue to regard as part of greater Rochdale until somebody physically removes our atlas.
