When everyone else is enjoying the Christmas break, the committee of the New Inn Mummers Festival will be putting the final touches to arrangements for the annual festival which takes place on Saturday night January 4 and Sunday afternoon January 5 in the leisure centre.
This unique festival of music, song, dance, and storytelling is being staged for the 36th time, and continues to grow in popularity and attract new patrons.
The festival format this year has been revamped, to cater for the introduction of a juvenile competition for performers under age 13, and this will be staged on the Sunday afternoon in conjunction with the junior event for those under 18. The organisers decided to add a juvenile competition to encourage and develop young talent that will be the lifeblood of the festival for the future, and to acknowledge the great work being done by music teachers throughout the region.
The senior event will be staged on Saturday night, and early indications are that there will be plenty of competition for the Peter J Donohue Perpetual Trophy.
The festival secretary, Michael Finnerty of Corbane, is urging groups to confirm their participation as soon as possible, and he can be contacted on 087 3828281. “We are really pleased to have this new competition for the juveniles this year,” he added.
