New Festivals (Take #2)

kilburn

So folks from reading all the great ideas and suggestions in other threads, it is obvious the city needs to turn its ideas upside down for tourism. So lets have a little poll and see what people think would be the best festival for Limerick to stand out from the pack.

Mc Love

Everyone is always going on about the river and how we should utilize it more, thats why I gave my vote for the river based idea.

Could we get the Red Bull flugtag/Red Bull Air Race here, that would pull in some amount of spectators! Although St Michaels rowing club would probably block planning for that too.

geotrig

aw only 1 vote ! i think there is enough comedy ,film and music festivals as it is and you would have big competition the zombie festival is a great idea , i voted for a medieval ,but there is others out side of this !atari +1 the comapany that never was !but aat the end of the day you need the guards to support it and they cxan be very hard to get on side

the limerick grand prix could be great little weekend festival if it was properly supported ! or bring back a limerick regatta ,or college race regatta

Kess73

As obvious a suggestion as it may seem, but I think a big music festival would be the way to go.

Granted there are lots of music festivals around the country every year but I think Limerick could have a somewhat big one at Thomond Park/Gaelic Grounds/Race course.

A proper International big name main eventer each year with three to five decent sized support acts rather than a festival trying to pass off bands that play in Dolans as huge names.

And have the festival each and every year with similar sized names in it each year. Possibly having the festival tied to one or two musical generes so that it is not going head to head with mixed genres festivals like Oxygen etc. Maybe a classic rock/metal type festival as one only has to look to the UK and mainland Europe to see how many people travel from all over the world for similar events.



I love the idea of new festivals based on some of the other options in the list but I think the music festival is the one that could bring in huge crowds and money each year.

seachto7

I would say there are possibly too many music festivals in Ireland currently. It would have to be a music fest with a difference, so maybe would have to be a particular genre of music or something like that. A "post rock" fest!!!!

A comedy or film fest would be a great idea I think. Not sure a beer fest would be any good.

What about a "Limerick Ham" fest!!

geotrig

Mc Love wrote: »

Could we get the Red Bull flugtag/Red Bull Air Race here, that would pull in some amount of spectators! Although St Michaels rowing club would probably block planning for that too.

Id love to see the red bull cliff diving here and they could do it off the esb ardnacrusha tower into the canal !

geotrig

seachto7 wrote: »

What about a "Limerick Ham" fest!!

where everyone dress up as ham tyler from "V":)

Mc Love

geotrig wrote: »

Id love to see the red bull cliff diving here and they could do it off the esb ardnacrusha tower into the canal !

The air race would have some serious legs I would imagine if it were to be organised here. It would be one of those things we could capitalise on especially with the width of the river. Town would be buzzing, I am sure the riverbanks would be full and the pubs too. Sitting outside Clohessys/Curragower/Bowles watching the planes go by

JerryHandbag

Angelas Ashes festival? We have the weather for it this summer anyway :pac:

Joking aside, Music/Comedy/Arts would get my vote

leakyboots

1 or 2 day Music festival. Maybe use it in conjunction with River Fest.

Use Thomond Park as Venue 1/Main Stage - one/two pretty well known, popular acts - Elbow, Primal Scream, Springsteen, The Script(please no!).. whoever. Get 2/3 reasonably big bands to support - The Frames, Villagers... the type that fill Dolans no problem

Use King John's Castle as Venue 2/Other Stage - one of the best gigs I've been to was The Frames there a number of years ago. A fantastic venue. Could use a mix of local bands and one or two reasonably well-known names - Rodrigo y Gabriela etc.

Sell tickets that allow people to wander between the two stage.

Block off the road from Venue 1 to 2 and fill it with amenities, market stalls, food stalls, DJs, another "Local Band" stage, kids area/bouncy castles, poet's corner, Angelas Ashes tour, river trips etc. Basically, cram as much culture into the surrounding area as you can, it creates a buzz.

Of course it would have to be done right. If they can't organise Mardi Gras and get the security right for a small street in the centre, there's little chance of this being done right.

The Hurt for Haiti event done a couple of years ago was fantastic, being able to wander from band to band, I'm talking about something similar to that but on a much larger scale

Probably pie in the sky, but something like that run well would be a massive sell for the city.

georgem25

Another 10 million for the city!

leakyboots

georgem25 wrote: »

Another 10 million for the city!

Between that, the Christmas tree revenue and rugby matches, it's a wonder the streets of Limerick aren't paved with gold

seachto7

the milk market could turn out to be a great little venue for a festival type event. Just have X amount of bands, no getting rained on to worry about.
Combining different locations would be great. Use the surroundings.
So, gigs in the milk market, king john's castle, maybe even as far as bunratty and adare.

Maybe even something like other voices, where you could have small or less well known acts playing in pubs other than Dolans. So, maybe a singer songwriter up in the smoking area of the Curragower, even someone out back in Nancys, a small gig on the rooftop of the Clarion, a gig in disused warehouses. It worked alright for the Sigur Ros doco.......

Grizzly 45

Could we have multiple choice on the poll??:)

bazz26

How about a Monorail festival? :pac: That would put us on the map just like Brockway and North Harverbrook.

kilburn

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

Could we have multiple choice on the poll??:)

I will ask the MODs

Insect Overlord

I've moved over all the on-topic posts from the first effort at this debate.

The poll is new, so anyone who voted earlier will have to vote again. Multiple choices are now available.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused!

kilburn

THanks to IO for giving the opportunity for people to make multiple votes