Thousands to throng Midsummer Festival

The Cork Midsummer Festival launches today with more than 20,000 visitors due to attend over 55 events.

Around 200 local, national, and international performers will entertain the crowds through an explosion of dance, theatre and music.

The event will also stage the first Arabic play staged in Ireland.

Festival venues range from a naval base, a specially constructed corridor, a residential house and the fabulous Spiegeltent.

The festival, which runs until June 30, will generate around 1 million euro for the city, with ticket sales totalling 250,000 euro.

It also employs in excess of 17 staff, with more than 70 volunteers helping across the duration of the festival.

The festival is also one of the most experimental in Ireland, with a grotesque burlesque circus, a Jack the Ripper inspired play featuring a former Rose of Tralee, aerial shows, as well as the Lord Mayor’s Picnic in the Park this Sunday.

Music highlights include jazz/reggae sensation Niwel Tsumbu, The Irish Baroque Orchestra and Young-Choon Park, as well as an amazing line-up including Camille O’Sullivan, The Frank and Walters, The Sultans of Ping, Kila, Julie Feeney and the first performance in Ireland by Barb Jungr.