There has been widespread criticism of the absence of a parade at this year’s Macnas Halloween spectacle, which had a single giant newt interacting with children instead of the usual terrifying procession of ghouls.

Alf was an impressive 20 metres long and five metres high who had two walks, on Saturday morning from Fisheries Field to Eyre Square, and then on Sunday evening along Merchant’s Road to the Swamp in the Claddagh.

In between he could be caught napping in Eyre Square, where children could touch him and pick up a storybook detailing his background about how litter has displaced him from his Corrib homeland and his search for an alternative home was thwarted by a new motorway.

While the environmental message and friendly nature of the beast appealed to a younger audience, there was an outpouring of disappointment online among fans who had travelled long distances for a parade they had long been accustomed to since Macnas moved from their summer event to Halloween over a decade ago.

Alf was accompanied by 50 performers, including stilt walkers and drummers, and ten puppeteers. But gone was the magnificent troupe of giants and masked creatures which took at least a half an hour to pass by.

Macnas Chief Executive Johnny O’Reilly acknowledged that not everyone was happy with the move away from a parade but believes there was a great buzz in the town over the long weekend.

“Our job is to entertain people, uniquely we entertain thousands of people, we hope not to disappoint anyone, and it felt like the majority of people were thrilled – we had 70,000 out over the two days,” he told the Galway City Tribune.

“The children were really engaged, we handed the story books out to the schools and they wrote poems for him. The procession on Saturday morning was utterly glorious. We made Alf to tour, he’ll have life beyond his premiere in Galway, that’s part of the message of sustainability and reusing, that he’ll have a wider audience.

“We make giants, that’s what we’re famous for, and we put them in strange places. We made Alf huge, he’s five metres high, so he can be seen from a long way away. What we’re trying to do is push the boundaries of what’s possible.”

Pictured: Macnas presented Turas Alf / Alf’s Journey, a new addition to its giant creations in the city at the weekend. Inspired by the current conversations around climate change and habitat loss Macnas created Alf, a 20m long x 5m high giant Newt. On Sunday Alf’s journey brought him from Eyre Square to South Park in the Claddagh.