10 best summer festivals
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You don't have to look far from home for an entertaining summer's day out. Pól ó Conghaile picks the cream of the festivals in the coming months
The Wicklow Arts Festival
A concerto that evokes a walk up Bray Head, the cliffs at Greystones and the railway linking the two towns is the musical centrepiece of this year's Wicklow Arts Festival.
Composer Cheryl Frances-Hoad's specially-commissioned work features in a programme running over two weekends (also including funnyman Kevin McAleer).
Tie-dye and writing workshops, bustling markets and an opportunity to meet artists at Fitzwilliam Square could be the makings of another fab, family-friendly outing in the Garden County.
Details: Tel: 086 033 3906; wicklowartsfestival.ie. May 2-3 and May 9-10. Performance costs vary.
Drogheda Arts Festival
For six heady days from Wednesday, Drogheda is set to become the arts capital of Ireland. This Boyne-side festival promises to showcase the "well-known and well-loved alongside the unknown and the soon-to-be-loved", and highlights include shows by Fionn Regan and Super Extra Bonus Party, as well as performances such as Conor Lovett's Moby Dick and Des Bishop's Unbéarlable. Look out for the family day in St Dominic's Park. Evening entertainment at the D Hotel is free.
Details: Tel: 041 980 7114; droghedaartsfestival.ie. April 29-- May 4. Performance costs vary.
Volvo Ocean Race Stopover & Festival
The world's premier ocean race spans 37,000 nautical miles, takes nine gruelling months to complete and stops at 11 ports. Tantalisingly, one of those is Galway. Welcoming bonfires will line the Bay as boats begin arriving from May 22, and the knees-up will feature Kíla and Sharon Shannon. Race Village is the heart of the action, with food stalls, arts exhibitions, street theatre and a race simulator among the attractions. There's also the prospect of Galway hookers racing in the Bay (June 1).
Details: Tel: 091 539 995; letsdoitgalway.com. May 26-June 6. Performance costs vary.
Dublin Docklands Maritime Festival
There's only one sight to beat tall ships lining Dublin's quays, and that's tall ships lining Dublin's quays with rollicking music, zany street theatre and humming outdoor markets attached.
This year's Docklands Maritime Festival, in association with Fáilte Ireland, is expecting well over 100,000 visitors -- and the highlight is surely the chance to step on board a brigade of ships that includes the 42m Lord Nelson, Ireland's Jeanie Johnston and the Loth Loriën -- a three-masted Schooner built in 1907.
Details: www.dublindocklands.ie. May 29-June 1. Free.
AIB Street Performance World Championships
Breakdancers that make Michael Flatley look like certain politicians at the Dáil Christmas Party. Women who can tear you to pieces. A juggler capable of spinning knives on his face while standing atop a 12-foot pole. These are just some of the performers lined up to battle each other in the 2009 Street Performance World Championships. More than 150 shows are planned for Merrion Square Park (they're all free) and, after the great success of last year's outing, this year's championships will also visit Cork's Midsummer Festival.
Details: spwc.ie. June 13-15 (Cork); June 18-21 (Dublin). Free.
Waterford Spraoi Festival
17 Hippies from Germany, Circo Delicia from Spain dancing "on the side of a building", and a "seriously hot" all-female percussion band from South Korea -- they're all on the cards for this year's Spraoi festival.
Music, theatre, dance, comedy and circus acts combine over this wacky weekend, transforming Waterford's streets and quays into one giant, not to mention gregarious, stage.
Sunday evening's Spraoi Parade is the centrepiece, and it's traditionally followed by a sizzling fireworks display over the River Suir.
Details: Tel: 051 841808; spraoi.com. July 31-August 2. Free.
Galway Arts Festival
Galway's Arts Festival has been going for 30-odd years now, but its 2008 outing was the most successful of them all. Some 500 artists (including Blondie and Frasier's John Mahoney) took part, combining with the debuting Festival Big Top to break all box-office records.
This year's event has a hard act to follow, but Galway is the perfect festival patch -- at once both city and village, university town and artistic capital of Ireland. Big Top announcements are due in mid-May, with the rest of the line-up set for confirmation in early June.
Details: Tel: 091 509700; galway-artsfestival.com. July 13-26. Performance costs vary.
Castle Palooza, Co Offaly
Think of it as a mini-Electric Picnic. There's room for only 2,500 people at Charleville Castle's boutique festival, and all are set to be treated to a giant céilí, scenes from the Rocky Horror Picture Show, disco, burlesque and circus trick workshops, a Rainforest day spa and, of course, music ranging from electronic and rock to trad and bluegrass. They won't be roughing it, either. The Tullamore festival boasts flushing toilets, free hot showers and access to the 17th-century castle itself.
Details: castlepalooza.com. August 1-2. Early bird tickets cost €59.
Kilkenny Arts Festival
Kilkenny is celebrating 400 years as a city this year, so you can count on the cats mounting a very special annual Arts Festival.
The festival itself is in its fourth decade -- now mounting upwards of 100 events in theatre, literature, film, visual art and children's activities over its 10-day lifespan.
Last year, we saw classical musicians at St Canice's Cathedral mixed up with Mali's Toumast, Ireland's Hayes & Cahill and America's Mercury Rev -- this year's could be even more imaginative.
Details: Tel: 056 775 2175; kilkennyarts.ie. August 7-16. Performance costs vary.
Dun Laoghaire Festival of World Cultures
Ireland's very own global carnival is by now firmly established as one of the best festivals on the calendar. Celebrating the vibrancy and diversity of artistic traditions, Dun Laoghaire's annual seafront shindig hosts classical, digital, folk, eclectic and tribal acts throughout a net-work of parks and plazas scattered with tents, markets, fairs and buskers. On a given visit, you could find yourself hopping to Mexican folk music, being entertained by Japanese geishas or dancing rumba in the rain. Tempted?
Details: festivalofworldcultures. com. August 29-30. Most events are free.
- Pol O Conghaile
