An array of activities and programmes now underway in the lead up to the Qatar National Day (QND 2010) will culminate on Saturday with a spectacular events line-up ending at 10pm.
As always, the Doha Corniche will serve as the centre of celebrations where the day will begin with a military-civilian parade at 8.30am and ending at 11.30am. The grand-stage for the traditional parade has been set up at the Rumailah Park, along with 11,000 seats.
In the evening, a classic car exhibition featuring vehicles of historic and military signifi cance will take place next to the Orry from 4pm to 10pm.
Around 40 dhows will form part of another procession starting from the Doha Port between 5pm and 10pm against the backdrop of spectacular lighting.
The extravaganza of light, sound and festivity will intensify at 8pm, when a 17-minute fi rework will take over the Bay overwhelming thousands of expected spectators, according to an official of the company setting up the pyrotechnics.
These will be biggest fi reworks ever produced in Qatar, the offi cial had earlier told Gulf Times.
During the pyrotechnic show, paintings will be displayed in the sky, accompanied by music inspired by Qatari heritage, which can be heard live on FM105.3.
Away from the Corniche, at the traditional Qatari camp setting of Darb Al Sai, where celebrations began on December 12, a 'Productive Families Exhibition' will showcase handicraft, jewellery and Qatari dishes.
Darb Al Sai will also be home to a gallery with the most inspiring pictures of the National Day, falconry and young falconers' shows, exhibition of outdoor paintings of Qatar by painters of diff erent nationalities, and video games.
Throughout the day, activities will be beamed live on fi ve giant screens (three on Emiri Jetty, one each at Sheraton Park and Rumailah Park), and will also show movies based on Qatari forefathers.
At the Sheraton Park, folk games and competitions will be held in the evening, while the awarding ceremony of winners of a host of children's events will also take place there.
According to a source, there will be areas marked for public parking (2 around Sheraton, 1 next to Qatar Post Headquarter, and 1 near the City Center),with buses ferrying visitors to and fro.
Tomorrow, an opera will be staged at Qatar's new cultural hub, Katara, from 7.30pm to 10pm.
On Friday, a children's drawing competition is being held on the Corniche with the winning designs to be displayed on the Commercial Bank Tower on Corniche.
Yesterday evening, a fountain and light show on Corniche began at 6pm and ran until midnight.
People interested to join the celebrations can also visit ndqatar.com, the digital portal for the State National Day Celebration Organising Committee.
Information is easily accessible also on the nationalday2010.com, where website developer iloveqatar.net has given a detailed breakdown of national day events across the country.
The QND 2010 is coming at a time when a heightened sense of nationalism has swept the entire country after it won in the fi rst week of December the rights to host the planet's biggest sporting event, the FIFA World Cup, in 2022.
Joining the party are hundreds of companies, organisations, communities to mark the national day and celebrate the achievements of the country.
Dohaland, for instance, is hosting a rare collection of swords and daggers of the founding father, a kids' exhibition and documentary fi lms on the life and times of the founding ruler at its Knowledge Enrichment Centre (KEC), a unique fl oating barge moored off Corniche near the Sheraton Park from 3pm to 9pm on December 18.
-Gulf Times 16th Dec 2010
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