THERE will be an intercultural family fun day at the Town Park on this Saturday, June 8.
It will be run through a partnership between Clare County Council, Clare Mela, Fidget Feet, Creative Shannon and Shannon Tidy Towns.
There will be a range of family entertainment on the day, with an animal farm, painting, scavenger hunt and a teddy bears picnic, going on all day.
There will be two magic shows, one at 1.20pm and another at 3.50pm. Chinese Lion Dance Ireland will perform at 1.20pm and 3pm.
Acts on the main stage will include traditional Irish storyteller Balor O’Brien, local dancers, traditional Nepalese music with Hiralal and Ramji Gaine, I4 Drummers, local rapper Wilzee and Fidget Feet Aerial Performances with Fire Acts.
There will also be a drumming workshop and a cricket demonstration.
Derek Clune of the Shannon Tidy Towns group said that plans have been in train for some time.
“Basically we started organising this about two months ago,” said Derek.
“We would have had a family day before Covid, which was a great success up at the Point, before the Town Park was open.
“Then Covid came and we’ve had nothing since then but we decided that we’d resurrect it this year.
“Some time Shannon was chosen as one of 16 towns in Ireland that would get funding for creativity, Sheila Quinn was appointed the co-ordinator of Creative Shannon. They were going to do an event, so we decided to combine the two of them and have one really good one.”
Derek expects it will be a really vibrant day, with lots for everyone to enjoy.
“We’ll have an animal farm, face painting, story telling, we’ll have a cricket demonstration, a magician and the Clare Mela are going to have the Fidget Feet aerial dancing. There’s a huge amount going on and the important thing is that admission is free, there’s no charge to go in. There will be music all day, food vans, ice cream, teas and coffee, everything. All we’re hoping for is that we’ll have good weather!”
He hopes it will be a very positive event for all the local community. “We want to get all the people of Shannon to come, whether they be from Ballycasey or Drumgeely, all ends of the town together for a family fun day. We want to include all the diverse nationalities that we have in the town. The Indian community are going to give a cricket demonstration, there will be Nepalese dancing, Indian drumming, the Chinese dragon, some of the Syrians are going to cook some of their food and have a stall down there. It’s just a family fun day to bring the people of Shannon together for a day, that they would have a nice, enjoyable day in the Park, an outdoor event, with no alcohol. That’s the concept.”
He is hopeful of a good turnout.
“We hope to get a big crowd, have everybody out, hopefully have a good weather. It’s not just from Shannon, if people from outside want to come they are very welcome too,” he said.
Derek said that Saturday’s event might just be the start of something bigger. “Maybe we will expand it as the years go by, maybe we’ll have two days next year.”
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked with a number of other publications in Limerick, Cork and Galway. His first book will be published in December 2024.