City’s St Patrick’s festival to add extra colours to sea of green

LIMERICK’S St Patrick’s weekend festival will showcase sport, culture, community organisations and multicultural groups.

The theme of the St Patrick’s Day parade will be the United Colours of Limerick and non-national groups are urged to participate in the March 17 event.

Mayor of Limerick Cllr Ger Fahy said: “We want the St Patrick’s Day parade to showcase the modern vibrant multicultural city we have become and to showcase our best sporting, cultural, community and social organisations.”

The Limerick Co-ordination Office has appointed a new event management company, Futureama Productions, to run the city’s festivals for the next two years.

Furtureama’s managing director Fran O’Donnell wants the St Patrick’s Day parade to be a splash of colour on the green.

He said: “Multicultural organisations will set the streets alive. The aim of the United Colours of Limerick parade is to embrace the best that Limerick has to offer and to show how we are all united in our great love for this city.”

Limerick St Patrick’s Festival will open with the international band parade on Sunday, March 16, with local, national and international musicians set to take part.

Mr O’Donnell said: “The band parade is now in its 36th year and is very popular with Limerick people. This year, we are hoping to have a great representation from Limerick bands, as well as bands from Northern Ireland, the US, Britain and Europe.”

Eoghan Prendergast of Shannon Development, the regional tourism organisation, said: “We are delighted to support Limerick’s St Patrick’s festival again this year and to see that it promises to be a fantastic fun weekend for all the family.”

Futureama Productions have experience in organising events and festivals in Limerick over the past 11 years. The Bill Clinton visit, the big street TV screen and homecoming for the Munster rugby team who won the Heineken Cup in 2006, the big screen for the All-Ireland hurling final in 2007 plus the homecoming for the Limerick team and the Britain/Ireland Corporate Games are among the events they have organised.

Mr O’Donnell said: “We have lots of ideas, enthusiasm and energy to put into delivering the best festivals possible for the city.”

Anyone wishing to take part in this year’s St Patrick’s Day parade or International Band Parade can download an application form from the festivals’ website.

www.festivalslimerick.com