Baltimore wants you to be ‘Happy' – all over again

BALTIMORE’S RNLI’s 100-year history will be celebrated with a new ‘Happy’ video.

It is just one of the ways that the arrival of The Shamrock lifeboat in the coastal community on September 8th 1919 will be celebrated.

The residents of this exposed coastal village value their volunteer lifeboat team and are fully aware of the perils of the sea. And it was after a bad storm, in 2014, that some locals had the idea of lifting the collective mood by organising a ‘Happy’ video featuring people dancing to the sounds of the Pharrell Williams song.

One of the organisers, Sharon Rose McKeever, said the first video was a huge hit – the whole village got involved and the sense of fun was contagious.

‘Since then,’ Sharon said, ‘we have done three more: in 2015, we decided to mix dancing with learning a new skill, so everyone knitted beards.

‘It resulted in us having a “Happy Beard Day” and establishing a Guinness World Record in the process. In 2016, we followed it up with a “Dancing at the Crossroads” event celebrating music and dancing from 1916. 

‘In 2017, we rocked out to Can’t Stop the Feeling by Justin Timberland. That event, called “Baltimore no Borders”, showcased our beautiful, cosmopolitan village.’

The idea for the video – which is expected to be shot in the coming weeks – will start off in black and white and the decades will be ticked off with the Charleston and tap dancing, jazz from the 40s, and swing from the 50s.

‘The video will then switch to the glorious Technicolor of the 1960s, followed by 70s rock, a Freddy Mercury cameo from the 80s, and then Eminem, before a 100-year old man opens a curtain on the village performing the Pharrell Williams classic.

‘But to find out more about the final scene, celebrating this decade, you will have to wait for it to come out on Facebook,’ said Sharon, who is pleased with the viral success of previous ‘Happy’ videos.

To get involved all you have to do is contact Sharon on 086 8825785 and then put on your dancing shoes.