Don’t fear the boomers! How Poland is celebrating its old people – and making life better for every age

Yet Wrocław, Poland’s fourth largest city, is not keeping its elderly citizens at arm’s length, but hugging them close. At the annual “march of hats”, they are invited to parade through the city in festive attire and extravagant headgear. A marching band leads them to a stage outside the town hall, where the most innovative headdresses are awarded prizes (a teacup fascinator made of cardboard and a ceramic top hat beat the competition this year). The crowds then pair up to shake their tail feathers to the hits of their youth. The Beatles’ I Want to Hold Your Hand and Elvis Presley’s Blue Suede Shoes boom out of the speakers as dancing couples swirl around the cobbled square.