From Brian Boru to Fairyhouse: what’s on for the Easter weekend

Fairyhouse Easter Festival

There will be plenty of racing, music and activities for the weekend in Ratoath, Co Meath. A long-time fixture of the Easter weekend, it will start with the Grade 1 Powers Gold Cup. The highlight will be Monday’s Boyles sports Irish Grand National.

[ fairyhouse.ie ]

Galway Food Festival

The third Galway Food Festival will celebrate Galway's reputation as a good food destination with a programme of food trails, food talks, cooking and baking demonstrations, craft beer and wine tastings, open air food markets promoting local produce, food tours to local artisan producers, and family-friendly events.

[ galwayfoodfestival.com ]

1916 Commemorations

A ceremony will be held on Easter Sunday at the General Post Office, Dublin to mark the 98th anniversary of the 1916 Rising. The parade will start from Dublin Castle via Dame Street at 11.45am. The defence force will have more than 350 troops from all formations on parade, including the Defence Forces Brass, Reed and Pipe Bands. At noon the Taoiseach Enda Kenny will invite the President Michael D Higgins to lay a wreath in memory of all those who died. The Irish Air Corps will fly past at the end of the ceremony. The parade will continue through O’Connell St to Parnell Square.

Westport Easter Walking Festival

The Westport Easter Walking Festival 2014 is a guided walking weekend that will involve one hill walk and one low level walk. Led by Gerry Greensmyth of Croagh Patrick Walking Tours this event takes place over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend. One walk will be a mountain walk with 700m ascent and the other walk a low level flat walk of approximately 10 miles, with the hill walk taking place on the better of the two days weather wise.

The Conscious Concert

The concert takes place tomorrow in the RDS. It will attract some prominent gurus, sacred musicians and teachers together for the holistic concert. The music will feature classic mindfulness, dervish dance, ancient chants from all over the world. Musician Luis Paniagua from Spain will sing in a variety of languages from Sanskrit to Aramaic.

[ consciousconcert.ie ]

Battle of Clontarf Festival

About 600 re-enactors from all over the world will attend the event in Clontarf at St Anne’s Park in Raheny, Dublin on Saturday and Sunday. Organisers said it wil be the largest Viking village and living history battle re-enactment produced in Ireland to date.The village will have static and interactive displays of Viking life. There will be demonstrations of Viking skills and crafts including weapon archery , Viking long boat, falconry and mounted Viking displays. A total of four battle re-enactments will happen between 1pm-4pm.

[ brianborumillennium.ie  ]

Phase One Festival

A multi-disciplinary arts festival presenting electronic music, visual art, film, master classes and workshops on Saturday and Sunday in The Dock in Carrick on Shannon, Co Leitrim. There will be electronic musicians, DJs, producers, art installations, master classes and workshops. The festival has three main stages with the line up that includes Daithí, Kubo, Terranova and White Collar Boy.

[ phaseonefestival.com  ]

Easter Beer Festival at Franciscan Well

Franciscan Well brewery’s annual Easter festival will run Saturday and Sunday in the North Mall, Cork. Over the two days craft brewers from around Ireland including Blacks of Kinsale, 8 Degrees, The Porterhouse, Dungarvan Brewery and JW Sweetman will showcase their ales, lagers and stouts. There will be heated outdoor beer tents with food available. Doors will open at 2pm.

Tír na nÓg Children’s Festival

A series of family fun events will run until Monday, April 21st in Tralee. Activities around various locations will include Easter egg hunts, duck races, family night at the dogs, puppet shows, animal farms and craft workshops.

[ tralee.ie ]