The award winning Mayo Manchester Tradfest returns to Mayo to stage its seventh annual week-long festival from Thursday, August 1 to Wednesday, August 7 in Westport and surrounding areas.
Festival highlights in Westport include a special 'Around the Fire' show at the Helm Bar at the Quays in Westport on the Bank holiday Monday, August 5 which is being filmed by iMayo TV and will be presented by Henry McGlade.
The festival is one of Ireland's biggest Traditional Irish music, song and dance festivals. It features over 500 performers taking part in over 100 events in eight different Hubs in Mayo along the Wild Atlantic Way.
Over 90 per cent of the events in the week-long family friendly festival are free of charge and accessible to all. The areas included in this year’s festival are as follows; Achill Island, Ashford Castle and Cong, Attymass, Ballina, Bonniconlon, Castlebar, Claremorris and Westport.
Early Bird tickets for the festival’s annual seventh Mayo Manchester Tradfest gala concert sponsored by Ballina's Davy's Tool Hire, which will take place on Saturday, August 3 in the Ballina Arts Centre, have just gone on sale and are priced at just €10 each if purchased before the Thursday, July 10. They can be booked by contacting the centre on (096 ) 73593 or online at www.ballinaartscentre.com
Speaking ahead of the festival, Tony Hennigan from Mayo Manchester said: "The festival is a legacy event from the Mayo Manchester Gathering which we organised in 2013 with then Minister for Tourism, Michael Ring TD. The event won Tourism Ireland's biggest Gathering of the year and has since gone on to win the Mayo International award and was a finalist representing Mayo in the Failte Ireland Tourism Industry awards for festivals attracting over 50,000 visitors. It keeps on growing each year with more events and venues being added and we are very grateful for the support we receive both in Mayo and Manchester to stage the festival."
Festival highlights include a live broadcast from Midwest Radio at the Fr Peyton Centre in Attymass sponsored by Centra Castlebar and a VIP Launch concert at Breaffy House Resort Hotel on the opening night of Thursday, August 1. The festival moves to Achill Island on Friday, August 2 for a performance at the Achill Head Hotel. On Saturday, August 3 the festival stages its annual Gala Concert at the Ballina Arts Centre which will feature Mayo and Manchester's Premier Irish artists in a two hour Irish Music, Song and Dance Concert. Sunday, August 4 sees the festival open up this year’s 101st Claremorris Agriculutral show. On Monday, August 5, the festival opens Ireland's second biggest agricultural show and gymkhana in Bonniconlon. On Tuesday, August 6 the group will be appearing at the Centra Store in Castlebar. On Wednesday, August 7, the group will be appearing in Cong village for a public performance at 12 noon followed by a private visit to Ashford Castle sponsored by Rosgal. Finally, the festival is brought to a close with a free concert at the newly opened Tarbh47 Live Music venue on Garden Street in Ballina at 9pm.
For more information about the festival and details about tickets see www.mayomanchester.com
