West Kerry goes green in honour of St Patrick

BALLYFERRITER is set to stage it’s fifth St. Patrick’s Day parade next Saturday. From a modest start in 2014 the parade has grown exponentially, and this year it will have at least 38 floats.

This year’s theme is fancy dress, based on the colourful Mardi Gras festival which is celebrated all over the world. Participants are asked to dress colourfully and bring musical instruments to add to the atmosphere.

The parade will assemble in the car park of the Comharchumann at 10.15am and, following mass at 11am, the parade will set out through the village and back again.

Local businesses will be serving traditional Irish cuisine all weekend, including mutton pies, beef & Guinness pies, Irish stew and a full Irish breakfast. The meals on St Patrick’s Day will include a drink – all at a festive price. The pubs will also have music over the weekend.

Gach aon rud san áireamh, beidh an gabhar róstaithe go maith le linn na féile ar an mBuailtín!

Meanwhile, in Baile na nGall the locals will be defending their claim to having the country’s earliest St Patrick’s Day parade with a Friday midnight outing, led by Banna Cheoil an Atlantach Fhiain. On the following day the band will re-emerge to lead a daylight parade from the Post Office to the pier, starting at 2pm.

In Dingle St Patrick’s Day will get the usual early start with the Fife and Drum band’s dawn parade which, if recent years are anything to go by, will have a following of hundreds of early risers.

Dingle will have a second St Patrick’s Day parade 12.30pm, following the traditional route from Ashmount Terrace to the Pier via The Mall and back again via Green Street. Corca Dhuibhne Inné, Inniú, Amárach (past, present and future) is the theme of this year’s parade.