Cork Gearing up for Record Numbers this St. Patrick's Festival Weekend
CORK GEARING UP FOR RECORD NUMBERS THIS ST.PATRICK’S FESTIVAL WEEKEND
CORK city is gearing up for a bumper weekend of celebrations this St. Patrick’s Festival Weekend with more than 70,000 people visiting the city over the three-day holiday and 25,000 of those jetting in from overseas in what is the unofficial start of the tourism season.
Kevin Cullinane, Marketing Manager for Cork Airport, sponsors of the Cork St. Patrick’s Festival explains: “The triple celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, the St. Patrick’s Festival and Mother’s Day all combine to make this weekend a real reason to celebrate everything we have on offer here in Cork – a gateway to a great city region and the superb south coast of Ireland.
“With 25,000 people due to pass through Cork Airport this St. Patrick’s Day weekend, it heralds the start of the tourism season ahead and we are very excited to be involved in sponsorship of the festival again this year and are looking forward to enjoying all of the events on offer as well as a champion parade”.
Sixty-five groups will be taking part in the Cork City Council organised parade on St.Patrick’s Day, making a record number of just over 2,700 parade participants in total who will be led by joint Grand Marshals, the Cork Ladies Football and Camogie teams.
A highlight of this year’s parade, themed Cork Games 2012: Going for Gold, will be a mass participation Olympic-themed extravaganza put together by Cork Circus, Cork Community Art Link and Dowtcha Puppets who have joined forces to create eight spectacular parade pieces involving over 200 people.
A weekend of free, family entertainment will follow the parade and will run throughout the weekend until Monday, 19 March with over 20 hours of free, live music on the LivingSocial Music Stage and with the ever popular Barry’s Tea Market offering over 40 different stalls of artisan fare and traditional crafts.