Drive to market Cork as festival city

A NEW campaign is under way to position Cork as the country’s leading festival city.

Leeside’s first festivals’ guide was launched last night and details the huge range of major festivals taking place in the southern capital over the next three months.

Two more guides will be produced in 2010.

It is the first time the city has packaged all of its festivals together under one umbrella.

The new guide is called Festivals Cork – We’re On, Are You?.

The initiative is the brainchild of the city’s Festivals Forum, an umbrella group set up to collectively promote all of the city’s festivals and events.

Forum chairwoman Lucy Healy Kelly said that their collective value has never been fully appreciated.

“We believe the economic impact of all the festivals has never been marketed collectively until now and must be in excess of €25 million,” she said.

* www.festivalscork.com