Celebrating ‘Musical Legacy’ of town is St Patrick’s festival theme

Celebrating Mullingar’s Musical Legacy is the theme for the 2024 St Patrick’s Day festival, which will include all the features of last year’s, but with more musical content and other extras. It will run on Saturday and Sunday, March 16 and 17.

Details of what is planned were announced at a launch in the Old House at the Annebrook Hotel, Mullingar. There was a festive feel to the launch itself as Ray Dolan serenaded those present with a selection of songs, from That’s Amore to the Westmeath Bachelor, a favourite of his uncle, the late, great Joe Dolan, who is an important part of Mullingar’s musical legacy.

James Bourke, a member of the organising committee, announced that events at the Royal Canal will be back. They were a huge success last year and large crowds enjoyed the fun and games. The flotilla in Mullingar Harbour was one of the highlights and it will be returning on March 16. The Harbour Bridge will be used again for the same fun events and “much more music”, he promised.

St Patrick’s Day will start off with the annual Mullingar Half Marathon, “coupled with the St Patrick’s Day 5k, which we are launching for the first time” and again, there will be musical elements entwined.

Following the constructive criticism offered after last year’s parade, the committee propose to reverse the route. It is proposed that the 2024 parade will start at the Dublin Bridge and end at the Green Bridge, but that has yet to be confirmed as the committee are working with Westmeath County Council and other interested parties to “see if it would work”.

All floats and events will have a musical theme. The committee will be looking at how to get community groups on board with that, and how to get the different businesses in the town to incorporate it into how the town looks.

Again, there will be a sensory area, in the interest of inclusion, and a family fun area with bouncy castles from early on in the day, and the popular puppet show will be back.

Events in Mullingar will be live streamed online so people living abroad can feel part of the festivities on the national day, Mr Bourke said.

The committee intend slimming down the calendar of events for next year to just two action packed days and more quality.

Mr Bourke pointed out that Mullingar had no St Patrick’s Day parade between 2017 and 2021, until last year a group came together to bring back a successful parade and a festival feel to the town for a whole weekend, and to support the local economy.

He said that few on the committee had any experience of organising an event of that magnitude.

They have taken on board constructive criticism that was offered after last year’s festival and are addressing issues raised.

For instance, Mr Bourke said, it was accepted that the festival needed more bands and more music and hence the theme for 2024 – Celebrating Mullingar’s Musical Legacy.

Mullingar has a fantastic musical heritage that touches all generations, he said. The fleadhanna in 2022 and 2023 highlighted the traditional Irish music heritage, the first ever Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann having been hosted in Mullingar, and there are a lot of young, up and coming bands, so it is a really fitting theme for 2024 and after that, he remarked.

The parade was inclusive last year, as was the whole festival, and it attracted huge media attention on RTÉ and other media outlets, he continued.

“We had some fantastic floats. We didn’t know, starting out, if the appetite would be there for good quality floats, if people would put the effort in, but to be fair to the community groups and the businesses of Mullingar, they really did support us and put together some great stuff,” Mr Bourke said. The float winners were Mullingar Agricultural Show, the Indian community and Writech. The festival finished with a lively ‘80s night.

The theme of the 2023 festival was a sustainability Let’s Get Green one; Mr Bourke showed a video of the events to jog memories.

He stressed that without sponsors, volunteers, the county council, gardaí, Order of Malta, Civil Defence, Tidy Towns Committee and the local media it would not have been possible.

Everyone is invited to get involved and spread the word that we are back again and we want your feedback – what can we do better, how can we ensure that Mullingar does not have to go so long without a parade again? Mr Bourke said.

He invited people to hold fundraisers. Enter a float; it is the simplest way of getting involved. It doesn’t matter what community group you are involved in, what your business is, just throw some green on your vehicles, on whatever you are wearing, and make sure you have some music elements, and you are welcome to enter, he urged.

The committee are kicking off their fundraising with a Christmas Tractor Run, followed by a Spring Duck Derby, a table quiz and a mega raffle.

They are offering the same sponsorships packages as last year and businesses are asked to come on board and help in any way possible. The gold package (€1,000) offers the sponsor branding and advertising in local print media, an interview with Ray Dolan #frommullingarinmullingar, a seat at the live streaming stage, recognition on social media as a gold sponsor, framed certificates of appreciation and window stickers.

Silver sponsors (€500) get recognition on social media, certificates of appreciation, window stickers and corriboard signs at the live streaming area.

Bronze sponsors (€250) receive recognition on social media, certificates of appreciation and window stickers.