Rain fails to dampen Geneva’s “Lake Parade”

Even the rain could not stop ravers enjoying themselves Keystone

More than 300,000 visitors braved heavy rains to join the party at the sixth Geneva "Lake Parade".

Organisers said they were happy with the turnout even though it fell far short of last year’s 500,000-strong crowd.

The day long techno festival took place on the shores of Lake Geneva on Saturday. In the afternoon 20 so-called “love mobiles” drove along the lake’s four-kilometre promenade accompanied by the beat of electronic music and the cheers of scantily clad ravers.

“colour my life”

Brought together under the banner “colour my life”, the 300,000-strong crowd from home and abroad turned up in colourful, outlandish costumes. This year, however, the must-have accessory was not a whistle or a pair of gold spandex hotpants, but an umbrella.

For the whole day the weather did its worst, with rain falling by the bucket-load. Organisers said on Sunday it was a “technical miracle” that everything had gone to plan, given the wet conditions and all the electronic equipment which was used to stage the parade.

The parade was followed by a night of techno-fun with 150 DJs playing till the small hours on 15 different stages. Although two-thirds of the daytime crowd went home to dry off, 100,000 people stuck around to party in the evening.

With the Geneva “Lake Parade” over for another year, ravers are now looking forward to a hopefully “sunnier” experience at next weekend’s “Street Parade” in Zurich.

swissinfo with agencies