Manchester joins forces with Ballina Salmon Festival

Manchester joins forces with Ballina Salmon Festival

The Manchester Irish Festival will be joining forces with the annual Ballina Salmon Festival which takes place in Mayo from Sunday 10 July to Sunday 17 July.

Ballina is the Salmon capital of the World and its annual eight day festival attracts over 200,000 visitors to the North Mayo capital. The family orientated festival which started in 1964 is now established as the leading community festival in the West of Ireland and brings an estimated €6 million to the local economy. Tony Hennigan the press officer from the Manchester’s Irish Festival which is Europe’s biggest Irish Festival has volunteered his services to the festival. “I visit the festival every year when I go back to my cottage in Ballycong, which is just a few miles outside Ballina. I am really looking forward to helping out at the festival and developing the links between the two festivals. A lot of people from Manchester already visit the festival and we hope build up those numbers this year. I have been to festivals all over the world and Ballina is ranked amongst the best, most of the events are free and it has a great family atmosphere.”

This year’s programme, packed into eight days, is bigger and better than ever.
Ballina Salmon Chairperson, Benny Walkin, who has been involved with the annual summer event for over a decade, said he is confident that the 2011 festival will be ‘the best yet’. Attributing the secret of this year’s programme is community support, he said: “A festival is not recession proof. We have had to take on the challenges and come up with ways of still providing a fantastic festival for the town. The businesses have gotten behind us and really supported us, and without them, the committee behind the Salmon Festival simply could not operate.”

The BBC will be filming the festival for a documentary about Irish Heritage which is due to be screened in the Autumn in the UK and as usual RTE will be covering a number of the main events for their news programmes in Ireland.

A host of new events take place this year which include: The Custom and Classic Bike Show and Honda Step Thru (Sunday July 10) and The Singular Sensations American Song and Dance troupe (on Thursday and Friday July 14 and 15). They take place alongside some old classics such as the River Frolics (Sunday, July 10) and the Traders Race and Old Fashioned Fair (July 12) to make 2011 the best festival yet.

And that’s not all! The old favourites take pride of place in this year’s events programme. Turn back the clock on Wednesday, July 13 with the ever-popular Heritage Day or enjoy the Mardi Rag and Fireworks display across the banks of River Moy on Saturday, July 16.

Children’s events traditionally make up a huge proportion of the Ballina Salmon Festival and this year is no exception. Vice Chairperson and Children’s Events Co-ordinator, Liz Culkin, has worked tirelessly with her team to put together an exciting programme for the younger festival goers. Whether it’s the Science and Animal Day (July 12) or the African Samba Drumming Workshop (July 16) or just getting your picnic ready for the hugely successful Teddy Bears Picnic on Sunday, July 17, there really is something for everyone.

“Come to Ballina this July and enjoy all the fun of Ballina Salmon Festival, you won’t be disappointed!” concluded the Chairperson.

So why not join the thousands of others, and make family memories that will last a lifetime this summer at Ballina Salmon Festival, July 10 to 17, 2011. For full details of all events, log onto www.ballinasalmonfestival.ie, email: info@ballinasalmonfestival.ie or call into Ballina Salmon Festival Office on Teeling Street or contact 00353 96 79814/15.