Athlone River Festival returns for Bank Holiday weekend
The Athlone River Festival is returning for another year of Viking battle reenactments, food and craft markets, and walking tours. This exciting weekend of events aims to showcase Athlone as “one of Ireland's best tourist destinations”, according to Chairman of the festival Padraig Hegarty.
As well as appealing to tourists, Mr Hegarty wants to showcase “our waterways and rivers to local people as well. So many people travel over bridges in town every day on their way to work but maybe haven't travelled on the water. We want to show what is so magical and beautiful about our town. We take it for granted.”
The organisers of this year's River Festival organised a fundraiser last month to raise money for the hosting of the three-day festival. Mr Hegarty said that the fundraiser “went brilliantly.”
“It was well-represented from water groups, from companies like Ericsson in town, and from local people. We raised €1,200, with full proceeds going to the River Festival.“We really want to thank Viking Tours Ireland, who hosted our fundraiser free of charge. They are also a main sponsor of this festival.
“We've also had fantastic support from Westmeath County Council, with a €7,500 grant. They've also provided different pieces of equipment, such as barriers, bollards, and bins for the festival.”
The festival officially kicks off on Friday.
The full schedule of events is as follows:
Friday, August 2
12pm – 4pm: Athlone FRC Creative Tent (At the back of the Castle)
8pm: Opening Night with Féile na Sionnaine and street theatre performance (leaving John Paul Park, finishing at Dooley's)
Saturday, August 3
11am – 5pm: Viking Village (West side, under the White Bridge)
11am – 5pm: A1 Cleaning Two Day Course Angling Match- Madcaps (The Meadows)
1pm – 2pm: Walking Tours Historical Walk (From the back of the Castle)
11am – 5pm: Family Wellness and Creative Arts tent workshops by Athlone FRC (the Castle)
11am – 5pm: Taste of TUS Micro Village (the Castle)
12pm – 3pm: Number 1 Gun Battery Viewing (Tolbot Avenue)
3pm: Opening of Shannon Callows Panorama Exhibition (Dean Crowe Theatre)
Sunday, August 4
11am – 4pm: Viking Village (West side, under the White Bridge)
11am – 5pm: A1 Cleaning Two Day Course Angling Match- Madcaps (The Meadows)
1pm – 2pm: Walking Tours Historical Walk (From the back of the Castle)
11am – 5pm: Family Wellness and Creative Arts tent workshops by Athlone FRC (the Castle)
11am – 5pm: Taste of TUS Micro Village (the Castle)
12pm – 3pm: Number 1 Gun Battery Viewing (Tolbot Avenue)
12pm – 1pm: Water Safety Equipment on display (At the back of the Castle)
1pm – 2pm: Subaqua, RNLI, River Safety Awareness water safety demonstration (At the back of the Castle)
3pm – 5pm: RNLI Life Jacket Workshop (At the back of the Castle)
2pm – 5pm: Athlone Defibrillator Group (At the back of the Castle)
All events are free. Follow Viking River Fest on Facebook, @viking_river_festival_athlone on Instagram and @athloneriverfestival on TikTok.