The presentation of Mayo’s St Patrick’s Day 2021 festivities can be enjoyed through the Mayo.ie website https://www.mayo.ie/stpatricksday2021 - together with an array of activity on their social media channels, all culminating in a Live show ‘The Story of St Patrick’, which will broadcast on mayo.ie Facebook live at 7.30pm, on St Patrick's day - via www.facebook.com/mayodotie and will be accessible globally.
Due to Covid-19 restrictions, no physical parades will be taking place throughout the county. The Virtual St Patrick’s Day offering is an opportunity for people at home and away to enjoy a trip down memory lane with a wide selection of images, videography and memorabilia from parades around the county and overseas in times gone by. It also includes some music to celebrate Ireland's National Day with a wonderful performance from the world-famous Achill Pipe Band and The Lone Piper.
To start the day, Mass will be streamed live at 10.30am from The Church of the Sacred Heart, Belmullet. Thanks to the National Museum of Ireland, Country Life, Turlough Park, people can look forward to a fun lesson on how to make their own traditional St Patrick's Day Badge.
For the culture vultures, why not take a virtual trip through the Historical Jackie Clarke Collection in Ballina? The celebration will mark Mayo’s pride of its national day in a joyous and uplifting celebration of Irish heritage.
Cathaoirleach of Mayo County Council, Cllr Richard Finn outlined: "Celebration of our National Day is important to all of us. Festivals and celebrations are one of the casualties of Covid-19 and we look forward to a time when we can mark major occasions in a physical way again. Connecting with our Diaspora on March 17 is a longstanding tradition and although it is very different this year, I would encourage you to log onto mayo.ie for Virtual St Patrick’s Day. The importance of staying connected in these times has never been more important."
The broadcast will link with diaspora communities around the world through messages and interviews. The upside of virtual celebrations is that the Mayo community of 3.5 million across the globe can join in with the celebration and engage with the Social media channels.
Mayo County Council’s Municipal District teams have liaised with the county's international twinned towns and look forward to receiving messages from Mayors and officials, in addition to extending greetings from various Cathaoirligh in Mayo. St Patrick’s Day traditionally would have been a time where elected members welcomed delegations to Mayo and a time where they visited the Diaspora in different parts of the world. Although it will be virtual this year, it is an important tradition to continue and to stay connected.
The celebration of Irish music and dance is an integral part of any St Patrick’s Day celebrations and the council is delighted to have partnered with The Town Hall in Westport where the story of St Patrick will be aired on Mayo.ie at 7.30pm on St Patrick’s Day evening at www.facebook.com/mayodotie
The show promises to entertain and enlighten audiences using music, dance, song and cinematic imagery to tell the story of Ireland’s patron saint.
Over St Patrick's week, Friday, March 12 to Friday, March 19, Mayo Public Participation Network in collaboration with Mayo.ie and The Climate Action Office will drop the red and go all green.
A series of short videos will be released on social media and mayo.ie daily to showcase the brilliant efforts Mayo community groups go to, to help keep the planet Green.
These Community groups are working together to address coastal erosion, biodiversity loss, food waste, energy reduction, transport emissions and other climate and biodiversity issues. Links to the videos will be on www.mayo.ie, www.mayoppn.ie and all connected social media.
