Clonmel Busking Festival - three days of live entertainment from Friday next

Clonmel Busking Festival, now in its 12th year of operation, and highly-regarded on the Irish music calendar, promises patrons three full days of live entertainment on the weekend August 11-13 with an impressive lineup of great music running right through from Friday noon to late Sunday night.
The Festival will be officially launched by Mayor of Clonmel, Cllr Richie Molloy next Thursday night, August 10, at The Coachman in Parnell Street. According to treasurer of the organising committee, Simon Molloy, as well as the music, there will be a great surprise treat in store on launch night with the premiere of a short film “Petticoat Loose.” The 15-minute production, with the cast comprising local actors and members of the RehabCare Resource Centre in Kilnamack, “was great fun in making and gave unbelievable enjoyment to everyone in telling the well-known story of Petticoat Loose in a unique way.”

According to Simon “while the term busking itself is a little dated now the way street entertainment has developed over the years, we still feel that it’s important to retain the name because people know that this festival brings a great weekend of music to Clonmel each year. When they hear it’s the busking festival they know they are guaranteed a good time in Clonmel,” he added.
“We have loads of events lined up once again this time round with some excellent bands in the mix, like The Kilkennys, the Dublin City Ramblers, Jukebox Gypsy, The Mons Wheeler Band, Alan Power & The Aftershocks to name some of the better known ones,” he said.

Deise Brass bringing top class jazz to Clonmel's Busking Festival this coming weekend

UNDER THE ARCHES FOCAL POINT
Under the Arches at the Main Guard will be the focal point on Friday and Saturday (daytime) with a full schedule of some very fine bands slotted in for both days for the enjoyment of audiences and passers-by in the O’Connell Street, Gladstone Street, Mitchel Street area of the town.
Also throughout Saturday there will be a busking competition running concurrently at East Lane with three different categories of competition, Under 14, Under 18 and Senior. The winners of each section will then be invited to take centre stage under the Arches on Saturday evening between 5 and 6 pm. Each category winner will receive €100 with the overall winner receiving €500.
On both Friday and Saturday evenings, from Drivers 19th Hole pub/restaurant at the top of Irishtown right down to Annie Kehoe’s at the bottom of Parnell Street - with lots of other venues in between - there will be a great selection of bands of different genres and tastes for pundits to sample.

SPECIAL FUNDRAISER FOR CLONMEL CANCER CARE
To break up the music on Saturday night there is also a special event at Hearns Hotel at 8 o’clock with the Vagina Monologues show on stage from 8 pm. This event is a fundraiser for the Clonmel Cancer Care group and tickets are available at €15 from the local Tourist Office, The show is well worth seeing and well worth supporting for a great local cause.

LARK IN THE PARK AT DENIS BURKE
Sunday is always a big day for the Busking Festival with the free open air entertainment at the Denis Burke Park from 11.30 am to 3.30 pm. Now called the “Lark in the Park,” the programme has been slightly tweaked from previous years but the main attractions will be Banna Chluain Meala (11.30 am), The Waheys (1 pm) and Alan Power and the Aftershocks (2 pm). But there will be plenty of sideshows running also for the full family experience including a Pet Show, a Dog Show and lots of guaranteed entertainment for the kids.
Once events have concluded at the Denis Burke Park attention turns to the family event at Lily’s Lane (beside Hearns Hotel) where four further bands, Papa Zitas, Mons Wheeler, Deise Brass and The Bellefords are booked in from 3.30 until 7 pm, in that order. “That part of the weekend is always very popular,” said Simon, “people come and go throughout the afternoon, enjoy the music, have a drink, and there will be an open air dance floor too,” he added.
And to round off Sunday evening there will be live bands booked in at least a half a dozen venues throughout the town and a bit of fun also with the Drag Queen Music Bingo in the Coachman at 6 pm.

Perennially popular at the Clonmel Busking Festival - Banna Chluain Meala will be live at the Lark in the Park at the Denis Burke Park on Sunday morning next.

HUGE THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS
“A world of work goes into getting everything ready for this annual weekend,” pointed out Simon. “All told it takes about €20,000+ to put on the weekend and we only receive €15,000 in grants, the vast majority of it coming from Tipperary County Council, and we are very grateful for that. But without our main sponsor, PJ O’Neill and Sureprint, we simply could not run this event. We are also really grateful to them for that vital support, they are magnificent,” added Simon.
So the organising committee led by Cllr Pat English (chairman), Liam Condon (secretary) and Simon Molloy (treasurer) are all set for another “rain-free” weekend, Simon pointing out that they have been blessed over the years with good weather for their open air events. And hopefully we’ll be lucky again this year,” he added.