It’s been three years since the last Headfest, and the festival organisers are delighted to be back again, doing what they love—bringing music and fun to Headford’s June bank holiday weekend.
Our festival line up this year includes, Mike Denver with locals Break Free on Friday June 3, All Folk’d Up with another local act, The Shift, on Saturday June 4, and Johnny Brady with Ciaran Rosney on Sunday June 5. In addition to this, they have a family friendly music event under the Ceol an tSamhraidh banner, on Monday June 6, featuring Little John Nee, with Tara Stacey as support. This event is supported by Galway County Council Arts Office and funded through the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media Local Live Performance Scheme. *
As always, Headfest continues to be driven by the community, with the generous support of local business who sponsor three evenings of music from renowned Irish acts over the course of the weekend.
Beyond this though, there is a very real community spirit at the heart of the festival. Requests for help from various clubs and groups are always met with a positive response.
In an unusual turn of events, this means that in 2022, Headford Men’s Shed are actually making the bar counter for the festival tent. ‘The need to change venue meant that we didn’t have a bar counter, and we looked around to see if we could purchase something, but couldn’t find anything suitable for the venue, which is where the men’s shed stepped in,’ said Liam McDonagh, Chairperson of the festival.
The members of the group have plenty of experience in making for their community, planters and benches being the usual, but this was definitely their largest project to date, as it involved making three separate counters, and possibly even a fourth, each at about eight foot in length, which is an incredible undertaking.
Once these gentlemen have downed tools, many of them will be putting on black shirt and trousers, and joining all at the local hotel to sing at the official opening of the festival—where Headford Lace Project and Headford Yarnbombers will also be present to give demonstrations and chat.
In a similar community spirit, local photographers Liam Donohue and John McHugh responded positively to a request for old photos of the town, and, with the help of festival volunteers, will create an extra special photographic exhibition for the return of the festival. Presentation College Headford is also to be involved this year, in the running of the festival’s art exhibition.
This is only the tip of the iceberg! Local yoga instructor, Aisling Milton, is offering a free yoga session, while local fitness instructor, Gary Scully, is getting involved by running Headford’s fittest family competition. Beyond this, there’s a Tractor Run, talks, walks, a pop up choir, a chance to experience and Re-Imagine Headford’s Main St. in an unusual location, and a host of sporting activities run by the local GAA and football clubs.
Organisers are also delighted to welcome Music Generation Galway to the festival for the first time. They will be providing music workshops for children and young people, and an open mic event on Saturday from 10am until 4pm.
On Sunday, there is a family friendly music event that includes local music schools, drumming groups, musicians, dance schools, and world champion Irish dancers, and all of these events are made possibly by the voluntary efforts of hundreds, of volunteers, who not only support the festival, but show a level of commitment and dedication throughout the year. The town would not be what it is without them, and organisers are hugely grateful for their efforts in support of Headfest.
