On the eighth annual City Day, the capital abandoned any pretense of industry, opening central thoroughfares to marathoners, Ninja Turtle floats and the odd mounted hussar. From the hazy humidity of Saturday clear through to Sunday night's fireworks, the city was gripped by unaccustomed giddiness.
"This time was better than any previous year. I think the people are getting used to it," said director Sergei Fomin, whose private firm was entrusted with weaving the holiday into local culture.
Virtually every pennant was emblazoned with the insignia of MOST-Bank, the event's main sponsor. The parade, too, left an aftertaste of commerce, as Moskvich's new bright-yellow city taxis crept by and Ostankino meat factory employees marched with garlands of sausages. Most people, however, seemed to have adjusted to the commercialism.
"It's lovely. They've done a nice job. But then we have lost so many holidays -- November 7, May 1," said Anna, 72, a pensioner who would not give her last name, peering at the tail end of the parade through the line of militia that sealed off the area at Pushkin Square.
Mayor Yury Luzhkov demonstrated that he is better at politics and church-building than soccer as he blew a golden opportunity to score a goal, pulled up lame and took himself out of a game between city and federal government employees won by the city 2-1.
The volunteers' parade down Tverskaya Ulitsa, Saturday morning's centerpiece, was a mix of the impressively spirited and the truly bizarre. Since the entire area was closed to the general public, 6,000 marchers performed for a small crowd made up exclusively of President Boris Yeltsin's entourage, Luzhkov's tiny daughter, Alyona, and high-ranking prefectorate officials.
The lavish floats celebrated the unique qualities of each of Moscow's 10 local prefectorates, complete with choruses praising each okrug.
Some participants were dressed as local landmarks like Alexandrovsky Sad or the ZiL auto factory, but others strayed thematically. Nikolai Gorobets, first lieutenant of the Dzherzhinsky Division, showed his loyalty to the southwestern region in a peculiarly American way by dressing up like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.
Behind a tight line of militia on Pushkin Square, scores of citizens struggled to get some view of the parade. Festival organizer Komin said the militia banned most viewers out of security concerns and for the un-parade-like reason that the crowds would have made it impossible to see.
Police reports showed a predictable number of crimes with an unusually high arrest rate, considering the official two-day attendance estimate of 2.3 million people. According to police spokesman Alexander Cherednikov, 166 crimes were reported Saturday and 151 on Sunday, including 7 murders, 7 rapes and 24 acts of vandalism. On Saturday, 161 people were detained for public drunkenness. On Sunday, that number edged up to 367.
Construction workers scored a small victory for brinksmanship at 19 Tverskaya, where workers stayed up all night preparing the second Russkoye Bistro for its 10 a.m. Saturday opening. Manager Viktor Kalinin presided with regal calm over the tiny storefront, where only a day before workers had smirked at the idea that they could finish in time.
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