SCHOOLCHILDREN WITH painted faces and adults in silly costumes gathered round a fairground carousel bedecked with bunting and balloons in a sudden burst of spring sunshine in Dublin yesterday afternoon.
The occasion was the launch of this year’s St Patrick’s Festival programme.
The festival weekend runs from Friday, March 12th, to Wednesday, March 17th.
An estimated €58.3 million will be generated by the six-day event, according to the organisers who said it would also provide an important boost to the spirits of more than one million people expected to take part. “Not only does St Patrick’s Festival herald the spring but it brings some much-needed free entertainment to our streets.”
The fun kicks off on Friday, March 12th, with a programme of film, comedy and “visual arts for all”, in various venues around Dublin city.
Saturday morning will see a treasure hunt in the capital while the now annual National Lottery Skyfest will be held in Limerick city that evening.
Limerick will also be celebrating with its own festival featuring street theatre, carnival and markets, all topped off with a parade of international bands on Sunday, March 14th.
Back in Dublin, Sunday sees the “Big Day Out”, an event billed as a festival within a festival, take place at Merrion Square.
This will feature street theatre and performance in the heart of Georgian Dublin, aimed at children and adults.
This year, the festival is also staging two symposiums. The first is Irish Youth in a Borderless World, in association with the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. This will take place on Monday, March 15th, at The Ark, in Temple Bar.
On Tuesday, Big Ideas: What has Ireland done for the World?, is to be hosted by the Dubliner magazine in Tripod on Harcourt Street.
The full St Patrick’s Festival programme can be found at www.stpatricksfestival.ie or on Twitter and Facebook.
