This year’s Castlerea Rose Festival takes place from Sunday, July 28th to Sunday, August 4th with a whole host of attractions throughout the week.
The festival will begin on Sunday, 28th with the ever-popular Opening Parade, which features some famous inflatables!
Castlerea Rose Festival Chairman, John Mulligan, said that following the overwhelming success of last year’s event it was decided to continue with a similar format for this year’s event.
“We’re looking forward to another great week of Castlerea Rose Festival events. The weather was good last year and hopefully we get the same this year. We had a fantastic year last year when we decided to stretch the festival out over seven or eight days and focus on one event per night. It’s a very similar schedule this year too with plenty happening right through the week,” he said.
One popular event returning this year will be the Photography Exhibition which takes place at Trinity Arts Centre on Tuesday, July 30th. Glynn’s Photography and Sean Browne will be taking part again this year and the committee has appealed to the people of Castlerea for old photographs to be used solely for the exhibition.
‘Pathway of the High Kings to Clonalis House’ makes a welcome return on Wednesday, July 31st.
Mr. Mulligan said: “The walk starts from the SuperValu carpark and takes about 45 minutes to Clonalis House where Pyers O’Conor Nash will give a rundown on the history of the house. There will be an optional BBQ and Evening Garden Party at Clonalis House that evening”.
Country music star, Michael English, returns once more for an Open Air Concert at The Fairgreen on Thursday, August 1st. This event is sponsored by Cahill’s SuperValu and will feature a fireworks display after. Admission is just €5 while children will go free!
The family fun continues on Friday, August 2nd with live Pig Racing on St. Patrick’s Street from 8 pm. There will also be a BBQ, food stalls, street entertainers and amusements before Ireland’s leading Johnny Cash and June Carter tribute act ‘Cash Returns’ perform on St. Patrick’s Street. Admission is free.
Saturday, August 3rd features the main event, the Rose of Castlerea, from 9 pm at the Trinity Arts Centre.
Before that though, there’s plenty of other events taking place throughout the day. The Festival Parkrun will take place from 9.30 am at the Demesne, while The Hub will host a Car Boot Sale from 10 am to 2 pm.
There’s fun for the children from 11 am with a Funzone at the GAA club followed by a ‘Funky Kiddies’ Disco’ at 3 pm.
The Kearney’s Chemist sponsored Rose of Castlerea Selection Night will kick off at 9 pm with MC Paul Claffey of Midwest Radio.
Another wonderful Castlerea Rose Festival will come to a close on Sunday, August 4th with more family fun.
At 11 am there will be a Fun Swimming Gala at the outdoor pool while the very popular Clay Pigeon Shoot will return at 12 noon adjacent to The Hub.
The Harmac Medical sponsored Family Fun Day will take place from 2 pm at the Somers Park Playground and will feature fly fishing demo, penalty shootout, BBQ, bouncy castles and lots more. There will also be music from The White Cakes.
The curtain will come down on the festival at 9.30 pm in the SuperValu carpark with Ireland’s number one ACDC tribute band ‘IEDC’. This is another free event and is sponsored by McGourty’s Bar.
