Thousands of people braved the elements last night for a spectacular Millennium Party which marked the end of the 48th season of Wexford Festival Opera.
A vintage "ghost train" rattled its way along the town's quayside, drawing in its wake a ghoulish mix of witch-doctors, vampires, banshees, werewolves and spooks, in an unprecedented finale.
The festival normally winds down in a more sedate fashion but this year's street party was organised with the aid of funding from the Government-backed Millennium Festival company.
The final operatic performance was brought forward by three hours to 5 p.m. to allow the audience of 560 and some 250 on-stage and backstage personnel to join in the celebrations.
The ghost train, created by the street theatre companies Macnas from Galway, Bui Bolg from Wexford and Waterford-based Spraoi, was followed by a fireworks display which lit up the Wexford skyline.
The festival chief executive, Mr Jerome Hynes, said he was reluctant to use cliches like "best festival ever" but in terms of bookings and other criteria this had certainly been the case.
"Every single opera was booked out well in advance, which is the norm, but this year the same was true of day-time events like the 90-minute `opera scenes' and lunchtime recitals," he said.
Wexford's business community was equally pleased with the festival, which is estimated to be worth between £10 million and £12 million to the town.
Some 10,000 people attend the main operas and this year an estimated 25,000 people - many of them from outside Wexford - turned up for other events on the festival programme.
"It gets better every year," said Mr Liam Sinnott, manager of the Centenary Stores pub in Charlotte Street. "Business this year was as good as it gets from our point of view. Normally things get very quiet from the Friday of the last weekend but this year is different and there is a very big crowd in the town tonight."
