August 2014
Festivals in County Mayo in the West of Ireland
1st August - 6th August
Siamsa Sraide Swinford - Traditional Music
Siamsa Sraide Swinford (in English Fun on the Street) is a street festival with open-air Cèili, Dancing, Heritage Day and International Busking Competitions. The event also includes history walks and talks, poetry recitals, a childrens programme and sport.
It is a friendly family festival with 5 days and nights of free entertainment.
Friday 1st August, 2014
Royal Theatre Castlebar - Royal Theatre Castlebar - Teenage Foam Party
Finally, it's here as promised! The Royal Theatre proudly presents The Ultimate Teenage Event!
Excitement is building ahead of what will be an unmissable night for teenagers as Skyline presents The Biggest Teenage Foam Party ever held in the West, in the biggest venue in the West of Ireland. Banging with an awesome sound system, giant stilt walkers, blinding lasers and dynamic dj's in a true nightclub feel.
Adding an extra fun element will be the addition of our live music area with the very popular local band 'Everyday Solution' and judging by their ever increasing fanbase on Facebook and following hugely successful recent gigs, this will definitely add to the excitement.
Doors open 8.30pm to 11.30. Full adult and parental supervision. This is strictly a non-alcohol event. Tickets €10.
3rd August
Claremorris Agri Show - Heritage and Family Fun
The town of Claremorris is hosting its 96th Agri Show on Sunday 3rd August. It is a very well known festival in Mayo and a wonderful occasion for a good family day out.The Show is packed with fun, games and novelty events all day long and offers many attractions to suit all visitors from a rich plethora of competitions to cookery demonstrations.
Read more about Claremorris Agri Show
3rd August
Giro de Baile - Outdoor Activities
Calling all cyclists, dust down the bikes as the Giro de Baile an Chaisil takes place Sun, August the 3rd at 10:30am from Main Street Ballycastle
Hosted by Baile and Chaisil Cycling Club the Giro follows a wonderfully scenic course from Ballycastle Village right along the North Mayo Coast cycling right into the heart of Erris. Glancing Around you will see the rugged coastline of North Mayo with Céide and the Staggs of Broadhaven in the Distance.
The ride is not a race, it’s a chance to enjoy a challenge with like minded people with Spectacular views through out the routes
Sat 9th August, 2014
Royal Theatre Castlebar - FRIENDS IN LOW PLACES The Ultimate Garth Brooks Experience
The show is fronted by well known country singer Trevor Smyth and features an array of top class musicians to make up the eight-piece band which performs live throughout the entire show.
You can expect to hear all the greatest hits of American country-music legend Garth Brooks who rose to fame worldwide in the 1990’s with his own brand of country music which spawned such classic songs as ‘If Tomorrow Never Comes’, ‘Friends In Low Places’, ‘The Dance’, ‘Baton Rouge’, ‘Shameless’, ‘Unanswered Prayers’ and many more.
You’ll experience the same electrifying show that Garth Brooks is renowned for with the state of the art light, sound and visual production at Friends In Low Places.
Doors 8pm. Show 9pm. Tickets €22.
10th August - 14th August
Belmullet Festival - Arts Festival
The Belmullet Festival is a friendly family event hosted in Belmullet, a nice centre for shopping and recreation nestled on the Mullet Peninsula in North West Mayo. The Festival includes pig racing, busking, a town treasure hunt, a car treasure hunt and kids' fantasy football event. On Tuesday there will be the most important festival's event: the Annual Heritage Day.
10th August - 17th August
Geesala Festival & Horse Racing - Heritage and Family Fun
The Geesala Festival takes place in Geesala, a village very well known for its landscape, sandy beaches and breathtaking coastline.
This year the festival includes heritage events, cultural events, Là Gaeilge (Irish Day), a vintage show, horse show-jumping & classes, a dog show, a sheep show, boat racing, a deep sea angling competition, a clay pigeon shoot and a popular 10k road race.
The main event of the festival is horse racing on the beach at Doolough, a village three miles by road from Geesala. Here is a stretch of beach three miles long and is deemed to be the 'best turf' in the country by the Horse racing Association of Ireland. Visitors will find a bar, live music and delicious local food.
Since the first festival, greyhound racing on that same beach has been added to the programme and the excitement around that is built up all year with people bringing dogs from England and the North of Ireland, not to mention all over Ireland and the amount of local dogs taking part has increased every year.
The Geesala Festival is a family-friendly event not to be missed and a traditional entertainment for everybody, children and adults.
16th August
Gaelforce West - Outdoor Actvities
This multi-sport adventure race is a 67km course through Connemara, Killary Fjord, Croagh Patrick and Westport.The route takes the participants from Glassilaun beach in Co. Galway to the heritage town of Westport. It involves trail/mountain running or walking, cycling and kayaking through mountain scree, bogland, trails, sealed roads and the crystal waters of Killary Fjord.
Sat 16th August, 2014
Royal Theatre Castlebar - GET RHYTHM Johnny Cash Tribute
Replicating the classic ‘Cash, Tennessee Three, Carter Family and Carl Perkins’ line up, Get Rhythm recently gained a lot of media coverage whilst touring a number of Irelands prisons, most notably playing multiple shows in Dublin’s Mountjoy and Wheatfield prisons.
The idea for the prison concerts is based on Johnny Cash’s fondness for playing penitentiaries in the US. In 1968, ‘the Man in Black’, who cultivated a bad-boy image for himself, enhanced that reputation with a concert in Folsom State Prison - an institution that was the subject of one of his most famous and successful songs, Folsom Prison Blues.
Paul McCann, and his eight-piece band re-creates the role and music of Johnny Cash, and the June Carter vocal duties are performed by Louise O’Reilly.
Doors 7pm. Show 8pm. Tickets: €20
23rd August - 31st August
National Heritage Week 2014
The National Heritage Council launched the National Heritage Week to showcase the best of Ireland's Heritage. It will take place all around Ireland from 23rd August to 31st August.
Following this initiative County Mayo has organised a wide range of events in many categories such as archaeology, archives, coastal & marine, folklore, forest & woodlands, historic buildings & garden, landscapes, local history, museums, traditional skills and wildlife.
These events cater for all visitors to our County, families and children. Mayo people proudly will make any efforts to share, enjoy and promote with everyone their sense of place and the natural and cultural heritage.
Saturday 30th Aug, 2014
Royal Theatre Castlebar - BEGLEY & COONEY
During the 90s, the duet Begley and Cooney reached national acclaim and were regarded as one of the foremost performers of Irish music. Steve Cooney pioneered a new approach to traditional accompaniment and formed a perfect marriage with the energetic West-Kerry style of Seamus Begley. During this time they recorded the highly acclaimed album ‘Meitheal’ and were awarded the National Entertainment Award in 1997.
The idea for the prison concerts is based on Johnny Cash’s fondness for playing penitentiaries in the US. In 1968, ‘the Man in Black’, who cultivated a bad-boy image for himself, enhanced that reputation with a concert in Folsom State Prison - an institution that was the subject of one of his most famous and successful songs, Folsom Prison Blues.
Paul McCann, and his eight-piece band re-creates the role and music of Johnny Cash, and the June Carter vocal duties are performed by Louise O’Reilly.
Doors 8pm. Show 9pm. Tickets: €22.90