Ian McDonagh, Cork Co. Council Arts Officer, officially opened Mallow Arts Festival yesterday evening, Wednesday, setting in train a huge programme of events, many free of charge, and running until this Sunday. Festival Chairperson Tadhg Curtis welcomed the return of the festival to its July date following the disruption of the past two years, and added, “we hope that there is something for everyone to enjoy”.
This morning, Thursday, at 11am, an event which will be of great interest to Mallow people is a community walk along the length of the recently-restored riverbank walk, with short talks on ‘The Glory Days of The Bulwarks’ by Manus O’Callaghan, ‘Blackwater Memories’ by David Willis, and a performance of ‘Lovers’ Leap’ and a few other favourites from John Spillane. At 2pm, Mallow Scribes will present a Literary After-noon with Billy O’Callag-han in the Hibernian Hotel, while local author Tadhg Coakley will be in Philip’s Bookshop at 5.15pm to speak about his best-selling new book ‘The Game’. At 2pm, five students from Davis College, working with and under the direction of local artist Edith O’Mahony, will create a mural in the car park of Herlihy’s Centra, while Annmarie O’Riordan will give a performance of traditional Irish ballads at 8pm in the Hibernian Hotel.
Other highlights over the weekend include Hank Wedel and band in concert in the Hibernian Hotel (Friday, 9pm), a 60-minute concert consisting entirely of train songs (Mallow Railway Station, Friday at 12.30pm), ‘The Last Prince’ at Mallow Castle, a day-long living history display telling the story of the O’Sullivan-Beara march from Cork to Leitrim in 1603 (Saturday at 12 noon), The Mad Hatter’s Moving Tea Party on the Main Street, presented by the Doneraile ‘Art For The Heart’ (Saturday, 3pm), a Pied Piper Parade through the main street of Mallow (3pm, Sunday), an outdoor life drawing session at Mallow Castle (3.30pm, Sunday), a pottery workshop (11am, Sunday in the Hibernian Hotel), and Johnny Duhan in concert in the Hibernian Hotel (8pm, Sunday).
These are just a few of the attractions in this week’s Mallow Arts Festival. See the Mallow notes inside for a full programme list, or go to www.mallowartsfestival.com