Bunratty Castle will be lit up in green throughout the St. Patrick’s Bank Holiday Weekend as part of a comprehensive programme of entertainment kickstarting the 2024 tourist season at the popular County Clare visitor attraction.
The 26-acre folk park site will celebrate Ireland’s patron saint and national holiday by hosting family-fun activities on Saturday 16th March including live Irish traditional music, train rides, a woodworking workshop hosted by TikTok sensation Eoin Reardon, and demonstrations of the crafts, stories and traditions of old.
St Patrick will be joined by a host of characters who will showcase life in times past through storytelling and roleplaying as visitors learn about the life of the School House Headmaster, the busy postmistress in the Post Office and the music and dance traditions of the early 1900s.
A live Irish step dance performance featuring the Linda Ball Hoban School of Irish Dance will be held in the Corn Barn at 1.00pm and 3.00pm, and the resident village musicians will be performing at the Tea Room throughout the day.
Members of the public are invited to explore the traditions and practices, knowledge and skills passed down through generations, including traditional baking and butter making, while TikTok star Eoin Reardon (‘pintofplane’) will demonstrate how he makes an array of wooden items using old style methods in Macs Courtyard. Members of the Clare Vintage and Engine Tractor Club will host a display of vintage agricultural machinery at work including stationary engines, corn grinders, and water pumps.
Other family fun activities include the Bunratty Express Train, a fun and interactive St. Patrick’s Clue Trail, and bouncy castles in the Red Barn behind Macs Pub. There will be curious characters located throughout the Folk Park including Darby O’Gill, Konor the Clown and his merry band of Dancing Leprechauns, and Finegas the Druid who will be recounting Irish fables and legends in the Shannon Farmhouse.
Marie Brennan, Events Manager at Bunratty Castle & Folk commented, St. Patrick’s Day officially marks the beginning of the tourist season at Bunratty, and it represents a great opportunity for the public to come and explore the huge range of activities and entertainment on offer at the site. We look forward to joining with visitors from near and far in celebrating our national holiday.”
Meanwhile, the Bunratty Castle Singers will be participating in the 2024 Ennis St. Patrick’s Day Parade for the first time on Sunday 17th March. The award-winning group of entertainers will be joined by Bunratty’s Irish Wolfhounds Rían and Míde, who took up permanent residence on the grounds of the popular visitor attraction last summer.
The Bunratty Castle and Folk Park float will feature live musical entertainment from the Bunratty Castle Singers group, which is known the world over having performed for world leaders and celebrities including US Presidents Ronald Reagan, John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, President of France Charles de Gaulle, Pope John Paul II, Crown Prince Akihto of Japan, Princess Grace, Bob Hope and The Beatles. The group also has appeared at Carnegie Hall, the White House, the Rockefeller Centre, and the 1971 Eurovision Song Contest.
Visit www.bunrattycastle.ie for more.