Co-Chair launches Brochure in Fermanagh to promote Festival

Co-Chair launches Brochure in Fermanagh to promote Festival

Co- Chair launches Festival Brochure in Fermanagh to promote Festival

Kevin Fitzpatrick who is one of the co-chairs of this years Manchester Irish Festival is heading over to his family home in the County of Fermanagh to launch the festival brochure on Saturday 11th February and develop links between Manchester and Fermanagh.

As well as being the co-chair of the festival, the Manchester based business man is the multi-award winning manager of St Kent’s Irish club in South Manchester, which is one of the main festival hubs for the annual two week celebration of Irish culture.

Kevin has organised a special charity on Saturday 18th February to raise funds for the injured Fermanagh GAA player, Mark McGovern from Belcro. The night will also be used to launch his plans for promoting tourism in Manchester and Fermanagh.

The festival has this year decided to do all it can do to promote tourism in Ireland and help bring much needed income into the Country from visitors in the UK. It has so far formed agreements with Dublin and Mayo, but Kevin wants to bring Fermanagh into the festival as well.

When asked about his objectives Kevin replied “Times are tough back home and I want to do everything I can to help boost the economy in Fermanagh.

One of the festivals main highlights is its St Patrick’s Day Parade, it is the biggest in the UK and attracts over 100,000 visitors to the city centre. We always have a big Fermanagh float, but it would be great to see someone who is responsible for marketing and promoting the County getting involved.

We already get a lot of visitors from Fermanagh to Manchester and are the official venue for the Manchester United Football supporters club from Fermanagh, but we want to build upon those type of links.

The Festival and the Parade is a great opportunity to reach a massive audience, even if it’s just to sponsor a band or sponsor a tourism stall. We would like to hear from anyone involved in the Tourism or Business sector in the County.”

For further information email the press office at pressmif@gmail.com

The Festival which is now in its 17th year is a 17 day event with over 200 events staged at 80 different venues throughout the city. Manchester is home to one of the biggest Mayo communities outside of London and this year’s festival has a host of Mayo events. It annually attracts over 200,000 visitors from all over the world. Major festival highlights include a four day City Centre Irish Festival Market and Entertainment Marquee which will turn the City Centre Green from Thursday 8th March to Sunday 11th March.

The Marquee will have is own licensed Irish Bar called ‘O’Briens’ which is staging a four day Cask Ale Festival alongside live Irish entertainment and food. The special family friendly event, takes place in Albert Squarejust outside Manchester Town Hall. It coincides with the three hour St Patrick’s Day Parade(officially the biggest Irish Festival Parade in the UK) on Sunday 11th March and a VIP Town Hall Festival reception on Friday 9th March.

Headline events include ‘The Pride of Eireann international Irish Awards’ Gala Dinner hosted by Keith Duffy from Coronation Street, plus special concerts from Tommy Fleming, The Dubliners, Sinead O’Connor and the debut of Manchester’s first Irish Orchestra ‘Ivernia’ and a two week Tradfest in Levenshulme.

The world premier for Paul O’Grady’s ‘Street of Dreams’ about Coronation Street is also being staged alongside the festival and is featured in the festivals brochure.