1993

After two years of experimentation the festival is launched and is called Summer Spraoi '93:

• Footsbarn Theatre Company present Romeo and Juliet in a circus tent at Kilbarry Sports Centre

• Macnas present Noah's Ark on Sunday afternoon in the city centre.

• Spraoi present their first ever production "Africa to Aran", with percussion led by Tommy Hayes and choreography by Camilla Dorcey. Live music sessions are held outside five city centre pubs

• Spraoi's first full-time staff begin work as twelve people are employed on a FAS Community Employment Scheme. The company is based in a former cattle shed on The Quay

• Spraoi takes part in Waterford St. Patricks Day Parade for the first time.

• The company begins to do other commercial work throughout the year, including interactive Christmas production, Darkwood

Spraoi Festival:

• Based on rhythm in all its forms, with the Drogheda Samba Band, Different Drums of Derry and the Spraoi Drummers performing over three days.

• Lighting the Walls becomes Spraoi's most ambitious project to date, incorporating 200 volunteers and 500 flaming torches.

• Hoffmans Music Fringe is added to the programme. Bands appearing include Harmonious Wail, The Madrigal, the Freudian Slips and Lion's Den.

• Macnas present Tribes on Sunday afternoon, with an estimated crowd of 15,000 people watching.

• Spraoi brings it's work outside Waterford for the first time when it visits the Cats Laugh Festival and the Kilkenny Arts Festival with specially commissioned shows.

• The company begins to provide training and workshop opportunities to community groups.

• The Spraoi Festival finally decides to anchor itself to the August Bank Holiday weekend.

Spraoi Festival:

• The Spraoi production Bibelot is staged on Saturday evening, followed by a firework display. It attracts over 10,000 people to Red Square.

• The Sunday Street Carnival is added to the festival programme.

• Hoffmans Rhythm Route features The Frames, The Tallafornia Mandolin Band and The Prayer Boat.

• Percussion is once again a central theme with performances from The Belfast Carnival Band, Lambeg Drummers, Metronomes Steel Orchestra, Drogheda Samba Band and Spraoi Drummers.

• Streets and buildings are decorated with weird and wonderful creatures.

• Spraoi office and workshop moves to the Auction Galleries (now Waterford Museum of Treasures)

• The company writes and produces Voodoo Nation involving twelve trainees as part of a FAS Arts and Culture course run by Spraoi.

• Spraoi take their work abroad for the first time when they are invited to take part in the Notting Hill Carnival, London. The company also visits several other festivals around Ireland.

Spraoi Festival:

• Spraoi present their first street parade Ragnorak with a cast of 150, based on an ancient Norse legend. An estimated crowd of 20,000 turns out to watch the event, followed by a fireworks display, which takes place on the Sunday evening.

• Carlsberg are the new sponsors of the Rhythm Route

• Outdoor music sessions include Ebony Steelband on stage in Red Square and the Café Orchestra playing an exquisite set in the French Church.

• Taiko drumming band, Sen Ryo Taiko, travel from Japan to take part in the festival. Street theatre acts include Swamp Circus, Pat Bracken and Bui Bolg.

• The largest section yet of the Waterford St. Patricks Day Parade is built by Spraoi, with commissions from companies including Waterford Crystal, Bausch & Lomb and Waterford City Council.

• Various workshops are undertaken by the company, including Home/School Liaison workshops between Spraoi and parents in St. Pauls National School and St. Saviours, Ballybeg.

Spraoi Festival:

• The year of the rain - so torrential that the Sunday Street Carnival has to be brought indoors to various hotels, pubs and social centres.

• The parade, Sleepstealers is postponed 24 hours, and finally takes to the streets, still under a downpour, on Monday evening. 25,000 people brave the weather to come out and watch.

• Acts from Africa, India, South America and all over Europe take part in the festival. Highlights include Abasindi from the Caribbean, the Chaski Inkas from South America, a local choir, Janus, and the trash percussion sound of Urban Strawberry Lunch.

• The Spraoi Festival wins The Jury's Overall Achievement of the Year Award.

Spraoi moves to a new base in The Glen, Waterford.

• The company is contracted by St. Patricks Day Parade, Dublin to design and construct a section of the national St. Patricks Day parade

• A new Arts and Culture training scheme is undertaken in partnership with FAS, involving 15 trainees based in the Spraoi workshop for three months. This culminates in Alcatraz, a production at Garter Lane Arts Centre, Waterford, which attracts a capacity audience.

Spraoi Festival:

• Spraoi Junior Drummers make their debut.

• New areas of the city, such as Cathedral Square, Alexander Street and Lady Lane are opened up to street theatre as the volume of street theatre acts and the size of the audience grows.

• It rains again - but just for the Parade on Sunday evening! It's no deterrent, however, for the 30,000 strong crowd who turn out to watch Here Comes the Night, featuring all the things that night brings out; ghosts, ghouls, cats, nightmares, the moon ……… and the biggest firework display yet brings another great Spraoi to a close.

• Sea of Temptation, Spraoi's production for the St. Patricks Day Festival Parade in Dublin wins Best Overall Entry Award.

• In association with Millennium Festivals, Spraoi joins with Macnas and Bui Bolg to create Ghost Train for the Wexford Opera Festival in October. An old steam train is transformed into three separate performance areas and the show is staged on the Quays in Wexford.

• Spraoi is commissioned by the city of Waterford to stage Phoenix, a spectacular fire and light show, on the Quay, Waterford for Millennium Eve.

Spraoi Festival:

• Black Umfolosi from Zimbabwe wows the huge audiences in the city over the weekend. The festival programme in general includes, for the first time, a strong international element.

• Waterford Area Partnership and Spraoi undertake a series of community workshops, and the results of one project, with Ferrybank Women's Community Group, sees a spectacular display of flags adorning the entrance to the city on the Festival weekend.

• To cope with the ever increasing audience size, a new parade route is devised, to take in Parnell Street, the Mall and the Quay. Time stands still for an hour and a half on Sunday evening as Time wends its way through the city. This year, it snows (!) as the company use snow machines and other special effects to great effect. An estimated audience of 40,000 become part of the whole experience.

• TráFest, the festival in Tramore, Co. Waterford which Spraoi helped to establish, grows from strength to strength, with the introduction of workshops, exhibitions and readings, to complement the ever-increasing music sessions.

• Spraoi employ five young full-time apprentices on a FAS Arts and Culture Scheme for a year.

• Les Géants Portés, a festival in Steenvorde, France sees the company bring their work to mainland Europe for the first time.

• Waterford City Council are asked to lease land to the company, and the Arts Council award Spraoi capital funding.

Spraoi Festival:

• The Spraoi festivals' first fringe event, sprÓg is born. Aimed specially at 4-8 year olds, the festival is based in Garter Lane Arts Centre and runs for five days, with performances and workshops. All shows are booked to capacity.

• A magical indoor world of light and colour, The Luminarium, visits the city. An inflatable, monumental labyrinth of tunnels, mazes and spacious domes, it has an immediate impact.

• The Spraoi parade Dr. Diabolical and his Doomsday Devices carves out a new route, down the Quay, to finish at Adelphi Wharf. An audience of 50,000 turn out to watch both this and Furnace, a show specially devised by the company, incorporating one of Waterford's best known maritime landmarks, the dock crane.

2001

• St. Patricks Day Festival is rescheduled due to the Foot and Mouth outbreak and takes place on May 20th. Spraoi take silver with their production 2001 - A Greek Odyssey.

• Waterford City Council lease a site at Carrickpherish on the outskirts of the city to Spraoi in order for the company to begin building a new, permanent, home. Planning permission is sought in December and a massive fund-raising campaign begins.

• The company secure several new contracts to undertake commercial projects, which include appearances at the Budweiser Irish Derby, the Mansion House in Dublin and the Guinness Hop Store.

Spraoi Festival:

• The world famous London Community Gospel Choir visit the city for the festival and wow the huge audiences who come out to see them.

• Spraoi and Waterford Youth Drama, in association with The Arts Council, Waterford City Council and Waterford Youth Committee, combine to produce About Time, a dance/percussion project involving 63 young people who spend a month in workshops devising the piece.

• Spraoi parade By Hook or by Crooke sees the Quays of Waterford swept back in time, with crusty oul' seadogs and giant squid, ghost ships and pirates, performing to the thunder and echo of cannon fire and the smell of gunpowder

• Building work begins on the new 10,000 sq ft Spraoi Studios in Carrickpherish.

• Bedbugs goes to St Patricks Day Festival Dublin with a cast and crew of 60

• Spraoi begin a three year collaboration with Waterford Area Partnership, devising and running a series of workshops. Using the parade as a vehicle the workshops are aimed at arts development and social integration.

Spraoi Festival:

• The Festival's 10th Birthday. A collection of memorabilia, as well as a film showing highlights from the last ten years, is exhibited at the Theatre Royal for the duration of the festival.

• Ten Tall Tales is the theme and title of the parade, a celebration of urban myth and little white lies, which draws an audience in excess of 60,000

• Spraoi and Waterford Youth Drama work together again this year to produce E-tales.

• Musiklab present an outdoor music production at Spraoi for the first time.

• Dream Engine present The Candle, a night-time, outdoor, aerial production

• In February Spraoi move to it's new home at CarrickPherish

• The first production to emerge from the Studios is Dream Train Steam Train, which takes the top award at St Patrick's Day Festival, Dublin in March

• Several conference sets are commissioned and built by Spraoi in the Studios including the sets for the A.S.T.I. and P.O.A. annual conferences.

• Spraoi produce Speaking Stones, a show commissioned by Waterford City Council to celebrate 1000 years of the landmark building in the city, Reginald's Tower.

• Spraoi use its new facility to full advantage when the company stages its first indoor production Jonah. Devised by Artistic Directors Dermot Quinn and Mike Leahy, the critically acclaimed show represents a new departure stylistically for the company.

Spraoi Festival:

• Elixir, from France, stage a parade and evening performance as part of this year's festival, to much acclaim.

• Urban Drum and Bass, from Switzerland, are a definite highlight with their unique style of bass and percussion.

• Norwegian accapella group Apes and Babes are a big hit on the Carlsberg Rhythm Route.

• The Spraoi parade Jinxed draws record crowds to the Quays.

• Spraoi performs in three cities simultaneously, when the company participates in St Patrick's Day Celebrations in Waterford, Cork and Dublin. It takes top honours in Waterford with Trash It, and in Dublin with Siege.

• Spraoi are commissioned to build more conference sets and this year add the G.A.A. to their list of clients.

• Ireland welcomes twelve accession states into the E.U. Waterford welcomes Malta and Spraoi are commissioned to devise and manage the city's celebrations. Included in the day's schedule of events are Maltese folk group Etnika and Spraoi's own production Knight Time.

• Spraoi provide the outdoor entertainment element for the visit of the E.U. Environment Ministers visit to Waterford.

• The company receives it biggest commission to date when invited to stage the Opening Ceremony for Cork 2005 European Capital of Culture celebrations scheduled for January 8th 2005.

Spraoi Festival:

• The Festival basks in summer sunshine and draws record crowds to the city.

• Acts from Australia, France, Italy, Britain, Ireland, Germany, the U.S.A., Brazil and Zimbabwe take part.

• Local acts are again a major element of the festival, with big band, Opus Pocus, in particular, taking centre stage.

• This years parade, State of the Art, has a darker feel, and sees Spraoi take a look at the edgy side of a society which turns it back on the arts as mob rule takes over.

• Spraoi produces its’ biggest show to date in January, Awakening, for the Opening Ceremony of Cork 2005 European Capital of Culture.   The show, on January 8^th, takes place along the River Lee, spanning the main three city centre bridges of the city, and features an international team of designers, lighting specialists, sound engineers and pyrotechnicans. 

• St. Patrick’s Day sees the company commissioned to provide a large scale entry for the Dublin St. Patrick’s Day Parade once again.  Spraoi also take part in the Waterford parade, in partnership with Waterford City Council, while also designing and producing an entry in partnership with AOL.

• A busy summer beckons, with the company producing three festivals over a five week period.  As well as the Spraoi Festival, and Tráfest, Spraoi is commissioned to programme and produce the festival to coincide with the first ever visit of the International Tall Ships Sail Training Race to Waterford.   An estimated audience of over 400,000 people attends the event throughout the three days in July.

Spraoi Festival:

• The largest, and most technically challenging show, ever brought to the city for the festival wows huge crowds over two nights of the festival as Transe Express present the Irish Premiere of "Les Maudits Sonnants".

• German company Bangditos are another huge hit, with their fiery and watery production of  "The Guardian Angels".

• Waterford Music Network’s "Teenage Kicks" stage, featuring young, original bands, is extended to two days, due to popular demand!

• Cuban band Asère, and English band The Magnets, are big hits on the outdoor stages.  The New Band stage moves to a new location on O’Connell Street.

• Spraoi Parade;  The Oz that Woz:  Dorothy emerges from six decades of obscurity and finally decides to reveal the gritty truth, spill the beans, and kiss and tell all about her real time spent "Over the Rainbow".

• Spraoi Parade;  The Oz that Woz:  Dorothy emerges from six decades of obscurity and finally decides to reveal the gritty truth, spill the beans, and kiss and tell all about her real time spent “Over the Rainbow”. 

• Spraoi is commissioned to programme and produce the shore-based performance elements of the Dublin Docklands Maritime Festival in June. An international programme of street artists and world music is staged over three days and an estimated audience of 100,000 attends. This commission was secured for 2007 also.

• Also in June Spraoi co-presents a promenade production of the opera "Tosca" with the Theatre Royal, Waterford. Spraoi has specific responsibility for the design, presentation and performance elements of the outdoor aspect of the production, staged in a city centre location. "Tosca" adds considerable weight to Waterford’s artistic summer calendar and is a critical and box-office success.

• Spraoi continues to provide studio space for rehearsal and design and construction to other companies, artists and organisations on a regular basis. For example, three young emerging visual artists attached to the Waterford Institute of Technology use studio space to complete large-scale works associated with their Diploma Show.

• The company is busy again for St. Patrick’s Day, with large scale entries in both the Dublin and Waterford parades.

Spraoi Festival:

• The Royal Drummers of Burundi headline a new location for the main stage on Saturday evening - John Roberts Square. Thunderous power, pure precission, amazing acrobatics and sheer rapture from one of the greatest percussion ensembles in the world.

• Spraoi in the Park: Saturday evening sees the festival move to the Peoples Park where huge crowds enjoy music and street theatre acts perform in brilliant sunshine. Waterford City Council re-open Wyse Park in the city centre and large crowds enjoy three days of programmed activity in the relaxed atmosphere of this family orientated space.

• An Irish street theatre company, Fidget Feet, are co-commmissioned to produce a new large scale outdoor show "Wired and Free".

• French company Delit de Façade take over the top floor windows of Sherwoods Electrical with another Irish Premiere to present a street show completely out of the ordinary.

• South African band Freshly Ground are a huge hit on the outdoor music stage and in the Festival Club.

• Spraoi Parade;  Waaargh!  Monstrous monsters and panicking people are a good mix, particularly when Spraoi are involved. Hideous creatures born of Water, Earth, Wind and fire create havoc on the quays of the city

• Independent audience research was commissioned by Spraoi for the first time. Key findings included: 98% satisfied or very satisfied with the event, 18% were visitors to Waterford for Spraoi, and 68% said it was their third or more visit to the festival.