Storm clouds fail to dampen festival spirit
Thousands of people will march through the city centre from 3pm on Sunday in one of the highlights of the Cork Pride Festival.
And the festival’s first family fair will take place in Fitzgerald Park from 1pm tomorrow.
Chat show host Graham Norton is also set to brighten up the weekend as he hosts a sold-out table quiz in West Cork tonight.
The award-winning comic, who recently received a doctorate from his alma mater, University College Cork, will be in Arundel’s By The Pier as part of the Ahakista Community Association’s Aloha Ahakista Regatta and Festival.
Funds raised over the weekend will help build an activity centre for the local community.
Meanwhile, thousands of music fans will pack their wellies for the Indiependence Festival at Deer Farm in Mitchelstown, headlined tonight by De La Soul, and featuring Bell X1 and Bastille across the weekend.
Gardaí have urged festival-goers to use the official car parks at the business park, at Mitchelstown GAA grounds and the town’s mart car park.
They warned against parking on the main road outside the festival site and said they will be issuing parking tickets and towing.
In Co Wexford, battle lines have been drawn for the reenactment of the 1798 Battle of Vinegar Hill.
Last year, almost 5,000 people watched over 200 rebels and redcoats reliving one of the most pivotal events in Irish history.
This weekend, professional re-enactors from Ireland, England, Scotland and the North will assault rebel positions in Enniscorthy across the weekend.
The highlight of tomorrow’s events will be a skirmish between the Rebels and Redcoats at 1pm around the Duffry Gate.
On Sunday both forces will gather at the Fair Green at 1pm and parade through the town on their way to Vinegar Hill for battle at 2pm.
Back in West Cork, the Courtmacsherry Festival continues with a range of activities, including pavement chalk drawing, a kids’ treasure hunt today, and a drive–in-cinema at the festival field.
A series of regatta races are due to take place tomorrow, along with a lifeboat display at 4pm. There will be a family fun-day from 1pm on Sunday and a fireworks display over the village at 10.30pm.
Ballycotton is also hosting a weekend of activity to raise funds for the local lifeboat crew.
A family treasure hunt will take place around the village from 2pm tomorrow, with a sea and air display involving the lifeboat crew and the Coast Guard helicopter scheduled for 3.30pm on Sunday.
Also on Sunday, the Funcheon Vintage Club Kildorrery is holding its annual tractor and car run.
Participants will assemble at Mee’s Bar Ballyorgan, Co. Limerick, at 11am. with an entry fee of €20. Proceeds of this year’s run will go to the Cardiac Support Group-North Cork, a voluntary group who provide support for people with heart-related problems, their families and friends.
A fundraising raffle will take place at Walsh’s Bar, Kildorrery.
For further details and entering of vehicles contact Les on 087-6852820 or Martin on 087-6754345.
Meanwhile, Cobh Tri Club will stage what they have billed as Europe’s only jailbreak on Sunday.
Competitors will take a ferry from Cobh to Spike Island, before swimming back to the town’s Titanic pier, cycling around Great Island, and then running along Cobh’s promenade.
The town will also host what is probably the world’s most unique and fun lottery — the Barrack Hill ball roll on Monday.
Over 6,000 numbered coloured balls will be released from the top of Barrack Hill to cascade and bounce their way down the ridged road surface.
The owners of the first four balls past the finish post will win a prize.
A leading German farm machinery manufacturer will celebrate its centenary in Ireland at a harvest festival this weekend.
Harvest machinery specialist Claas will demonstrate a range of modern and vintage equipment, including combines, both trailed and self-propelled, low density balers, and other harvesting equipment at the De Courcey Vintage Club Harvest Working Day celebrations on Aug 5.
Among the machinery will be the company’s super 1950 and super junior 1955 combines, as well as its SF, Europa, Columbus, and matador combines.
The company will also display a range of more modern equipment including senator, dominator, and the lexion range of combines.
A copy of Claas’s new centenary book, 100 Years of Harvesting Excellence, signed by company boss, Helmut Claas, will be auctioned for charity.
The event will be the focal point of Class’s centenary celebrations in Ireland.
While the focus will be on displays of working farm equipment, there will also be a large static display of vintage machines, including trailer combines, reaper and binders, and horse drawn implements.
Other attractions will include old time steam threshing, a vintage vehicle display, model displays, a display of vintage tilling machinery, and a barbecue.
Funds raised during the event, which will be staged on Jim O’Regan’s land at Barrells Cross, Kinsale, will be donated to the children’s leukaemia unit at the Mercy University Hospital and other local charities.
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