Scariff Harbour Festival and Scariff GAA will come together to mark the official opening of the 2025 festival and celebrate the significant developments at the local GAA park.
The East Clare Club will welcome GAA President, Jarlath Burns, when he addresses the local community on Friday 1st August at 6pm.
The man from Silverbridge in Co. Armagh, will fulfil the festival’s long-held commitment to maintaining links with Northern Ireland, which stems from the presence of Waterways Ireland in the harbour town. He will also celebrate the most recent park developments brought about through the collaboration of Derg Active Alliance, the GAA and other bodies as part of Scariff Town Team initiative.
‘It is a perfect community synergy’ said Chair of the Harbour Festival Committee, Mike Rodgers. ‘We are proud of our long-running festival, and we are equally proud of our great hurling tradition, that fortunately continues to this day. We are absolutely delighted that Jarlath Burns has accepted our invitation to come to Scariff and we look forward to celebrating with him,’ he said.
In recent times, The GAA Park has become a true community hub. In addition to a resurfaced pitch and a repurposed stand, it now has a state-of-the-art Fitness Centre and houses Scariff Bay Community Radio as well as a community hall and ancillary rooms. For a village of 800 plus people and a hinterland stretching to the Galway border, it is a facility which Chair of Scariff GAA, Ger Rodgers, his committee and the whole community, see as hugely beneficial.
In also welcoming the upcoming visit of the GAA President to Scariff, Head of Operations at Clare GAA, Deirdre Murphy pointed to the very strong links and valuable partnerships that Clare GAA has with Northern Counties, particularly with Armagh, Derry & Tyrone. ‘The shared solidarity of the GAA community extends across the whole country, and we greatly value the strong relationship we have cultivated with GAA communities in the North. The President’s visit to Scariff is a real cause for festival, community and GAA celebrations,’ she said.
Scariff Harbour Festival 2025 in association with Waterways Ireland and supported by EKO Integrated Services runs from Thursday 31st July – Sunday 3rd August. It opens with a performance at the Church of the Sacred Heart by broadcaster and singer, Ronan Collins, who will mix stories and songs from the ballroom days.
Other musical events include: Mac Fleetwood, a tribute group to Fleetwood Mac; the Fureys; The Tulla Céili Band, and Sin a Deir SÃ, a dynamic collective of trad musicians. The Grogan Brothers celebrating 50 years of music, Ger Starr, and the Thirsty Crows will also perform during the festival. There’s a Walk through the Centuries in Scariff, a Harry Clarke Studios Window Tour, a lecture on Scariff & East Clare Orphan Girls who emigrated to Australia in the late 1840s and a showing of Blue Road Documentary – the story of Edna O’Brien, marking the first anniversary of her death.
The Riverside Activities with UL Sport Adventure are back, also Family Fun Day with Toons & Balloons (including sensory hour), boat & walking tours, scouting capers, kayaking activities, genealogy sessions, cookery demonstration, build your own chocolate bar, theatrics from the Sharp Dressed Men, and an Open Air Mass, Pop Up Gaeltacht, Brothers of Charity Open Day, Community Fire Safety, Heat me Healthy & Happy in the Sauna with all the familiar artisan food, Irish Seed Saver, craft fair & street stalls, (www.scariff.ie).
