Circus fiesta cures Tralee’s autumn blues

WEATHER wise it has been a dreadful and dreary few weeks so kudos then to the organisers of the annual National Circus Festival for bringing a much needed splash of fun and colour to the streets of Tralee.

Over four days from last Thursday many of Ireland’s finest street and stage performers descended on Tralee for a celebration of all things relating to the circus.

This year was the 19th year of the festival which is organised by Kerry’s own internationally renowned performers the Fanzini brothers, AKA Con Horgan and Denis Butler from Tralee.

From humble beginnings, as a small convention for street performers back in 2000, the festival has gone from strength to strength and now attracts the crème de la crème of global street and circus entertainment.

The fun and japes kicked off on Thursday and for four days the public were able to enjoy a huge range of events including stage shows and street performances that veered from the weird and wacky to the stunningly acrobatic.

There were also a range of workshops where performers shared some tricks of the trade with each other and with the many aspiring performers who popped along to get a little taste of circus magic.

Once again the event was a huge success bringing a much needed boost to Tralee in an otherwise dreary month.

Photo Joe Hanley Sunday’s parade brought this year’s National Circus Festival in Tralee to an exciting close. Here one of the many participants light up Castle Street.

Photo Domnick Walsh Performer Aoife Deefdag with Reanna Hurley, Paivi Dowd and Soren Dowd at he Circus Festival in Tralee.

Photo Joe Hanley Destiny Lonergan, Ella Conroy and Abby Rogers were among the crowd enjoying Sunday’s Circus Festival Parade.