Dominoes in Hull?!

Hey guys!! So a couple of weeks ago, me and my family watched snippets of the 3.5k domino run that weaved it’s way through streets, public squares, civic buildings and private homes in Hull city centre. It was brought into our city by Station Opera and it transformed and took over Hull on that day. From about 10 o’clock on Saturday 11th August, 450 dedicated city of culture volunteers collaborated with Station Opera’s Artistic Director, Julian Maynard Smith, to install all 12,000 white domino breeze blocks. They created some massive, incredible structures which complimented some of our favourite tourist attractions while also set up some single domino runs to link it all up. We didn’t see all the event as it would’ve been physically impossible to follow the dominoes as they tumbled with the amount of people that turned out to witness it. As a result, we watched it from 3 different locations; from the side of the Minerva Pub near the Marina; inside Princes Quay Shopping Centre and Outside of Queens Gardens which was where the grand finale happened. So in today’s post, I’m going to be describing my experience of this awesome event and grant you with my honest opinion of it.

Before exploring the domino run route, we stopped to purchase an ice cream from Bert’s, the new pizza and gelato restaurant. I chose the flavour snickers and it was such delicious ice cream. I can’t wait to return there so I can review it in the future. After that, we surveyed the route that dominoes took around that area before positioning ourselves round the side of the Minerva Pub. There was quite an interesting structure that had been invented to boost the run through the window. All of sudden, we heard excited cheers as the run travelled along, knocking dominoes over in the process and it worked at a slower rate than I ever imagined it would. Luckily, it managed to climb up and through the window of the pub and as soon it was over, the crowd split in two with half following it round the other side and half dashing off to secure the next place they would watch it from.

Next, we marched across to Princes Quay and Queen Victoria Square, trying to decide where to stand next. There were massive crowds around Queen Victoria Square, obviously there for the incredible structure that concealed half of the Queen Victoria statue. Inside Princes Quay, there was hardly anyone there so we decided that watching from Princes Quay would be a much better idea so we could have a clear, close up view of the dominoes as they were knocked down. We were so close we could basically touch them and we definitely didn’t regret our decision as the blocks toppled over one by one.

Finally, we rushed over to Queens Gardens and tried to station ourselves so we could see the amazing structure in the gardens over the masses of people who were also trying to do the exact same thing. Sadly, we could only peek at the very top of the domino structure but it was better than nothing. There were cheers as the dominos flopped over but suddenly half way down the structure, as it was turning a corner, one single domino dived to the floor, failing to continue the chain reaction. It was rare for events like this to go off without a hitch but it was still disappointing and someone quickly set the dominoes tumbling from the bottom so the event wouldn’t go unfinished. Thousands of people cheered as the last domino toppled over and overall, it was a fantastic way to finish an amazing event with a spectacular structure that thousands of people had gathered to watch.

All in all, the dominoes event was very successful. It drew in an estimated amount of 30,000 people into Hull city centre and you could tell people were immensely enjoying the fact that our city had been taken over by 12,000 breeze blocks. Thank you so much to Absolutely Cultured, Station House Opera, the city of culture volunteers and all the other people and staff who were involved; you created a truly unforgettable event for us as the people of Hull. Thank you also to all the people who assembled to watch the domino run; an event like this couldn’t be so successful without everyone who turned up and enjoyed it so much. Personally, I found this event so much fun to watch and I was shocked at some of the structures that had been crafted!! I was also thrilled and encouraged to see so many people out and about in Hull city centre for this event and I can’t wait for the next big city of culture event!!

Thanks for reading this post!! Do you have any events like this happening near you? Tell me all about it in the comments section!! There’ll be another post out soon but until then bye for now!!

Amelia Grace a.k.a Amelia in Hull