Limerick 4th of July Celebrations

meoklmrk91

So here is a run down thus far of the events planned for the Limerick 4th of July, which is described as a celebration of all things americana. Good few events there, according to a post on Limerick Animal Welfares FB page they have been asked to hold a dog show in Peoples Park, seems to be a few cool events like the Sport Expo and the Twilight Market, a bit of something for everyone, has peaked my interest anyway!


http://4thjulylimerick.com/

Events on 4th of July
Cookie Making - 10:00 am - 11:00 am | 1 Pery Square Hotel | TBC

Sports Celebration @ UL - 11:00 am - 1:00 pm | University of Limerick | Free

Limerick Vibe - 11:00 am - 1:00 pm | Peoples Park | TBC

Irish American Sport Expo - 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm | Thomond Park | TBC

Picnic & Mega Barbecue - 4:00 pm - 10:30 pm | Arthurs Quay Park | TBC

Twilight Market - 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm | Pery Square | TBC

Limerick Regatta - 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm | Shannon River/Arthurs Quay | TBC

American Poetry Night - 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm | Whitehouse Bar | TBC

Live Music/Tribute Band - 9:00 pm - 10:30 pm | Pery Square | TBC

kilburn

Lads fair play to the guys for doing this but please advertise it a bit so it gets coverage, get onto the so called communication office.

Make sure that american flags are put up around town.

Offer free family history to actual american tourists in the city at the time.

New Ross are on the ball with this
http://www.worldirish.com/listening-post/view/first-official-irish-fourth-of-july-celebrations-planned-in-new-ross-1114

There is a Munster or Limerick baseball team not sure which arrange a free game.

Might be an idea to get St Mary's or the Fathers to ring a single bell for a few minutes to signify the ringing of the liberty bell.

Kess73

kilburn wrote: »

Lads fair play to the guys for doing this but please advertise it a bit so it gets coverage, get onto the so called communication office.

Make sure that american flags are put up around town.

Offer free family history to actual american tourists in the city at the time.

New Ross are on the ball with this
http://www.worldirish.com/listening-post/view/first-official-irish-fourth-of-july-celebrations-planned-in-new-ross-1114

There is a Munster or Limerick baseball team not sure which arrange a free game.

Might be an idea to get St Mary's or the Fathers to ring a single bell for a few minutes to signify the ringing of the liberty bell.

Some very good ideas there. Spot on about what they are doing in New Ross as well.


The copying of the ringing of the Liberty bell is a smashing idea.

bigpink

Music in Pery Square sounds great,street party ?

eclectichoney

Some cool stuff there. Twilight Market sounds nice, but eh... what's teh deal with celebrating the 4th of July???

Itsdacraic

eclectichoney wrote: »

Some cool stuff there. Twilight Market sounds nice, but eh... what's teh deal with celebrating the 4th of July???

Fleece the Americans!

meoklmrk91

eclectichoney wrote: »

Some cool stuff there. Twilight Market sounds nice, but eh... what's teh deal with celebrating the 4th of July???

I think the idea behind it is they celebrate Paddys day which is our national holiday so why not support theirs.

eclectichoney

meoklmrk91 wrote: »

I think the idea behind it is they celebrate Paddys day which is our national holiday so why not support theirs.

Thanks, though I don't think any other cities in Ireland do a 4th of July thing which is why I find it a bit strange! Ah well!

Kess73

eclectichoney wrote: »

Thanks, though I don't think any other cities in Ireland do a 4th of July thing which is why I find it a bit strange! Ah well!

Think there are a number of places holding 4th of July celebrations in Ireland this year. Kilburn put up a link to the New Ross one, and I think there is something on in both Galway and Cork.

pigtown

I saw an ad/mention in an article/can't remember, in yesterdays paper claiming Wexford were holding the first 4th of July festival in Ireland this year. Better get the word out before they steal all of the tourists.

Kess73

pigtown wrote: »

I saw an ad/mention in an article/can't remember, in yesterdays paper claiming Wexford were holding the first 4th of July festival in Ireland this year. Better get the word out before they steal all of the tourists.

That is the town of New Ross in Wexford. The organisers there had the smarts to get their festival advertised in the nationals, and they have been running those ads for some weeks now.Shows the difference in ambition and professionalism. A little town like New Ross has people that know to advertise an event at national level in order to bring people in, whereas the Limerick City version might get some advertising in a few free local papers or on the local radio station.

If the Limerick one now tries to advertise itself as being the first ever such event in Ireland, people will have seen the adverts for the New Ross one first and just assume the Limerick one is a copy.


I also see that the midsummer festival starts in Cork this weekend and runs for 11 days and there is talk of a 4th of July festival after the midsummer festival. The Midsummer festival (which has an excellent list of events it must be said) is also being advertised at national level by the organisers and I spotted a tv advert for it today as well.

The organisers of any Limerick event should be taken note of how other twons and cities use the national media to promote events, and do likewise more often.

Sar_Bear

All of those events sound brilliant, would be great if they happend, they really need to get their act together though re advertising, I wouldn't have heard of any of this if I wasn't on boards

SoCo2009

Great to see people trying something different for the city anyway!
Even if there are one or two teething problems this year, they can be improved on for next year!
Fair play to everyone to the people organizing this!

Birdie086

It's a good concept and I hope it works but I think it needs to have been more coordinated, this in happening next week? and yet where I work was only approached yesterday regarding getting involved?? A little late,
I hope they can pull off some kind of event, Riverfest has been a great success for the last 4/5 years and it would be great for our city to have another weekend of note during the summer months

Voy

Birdie086 wrote: »

It's a good concept and I hope it works but I think it needs to have been more coordinated, this in happening next week? and yet where I work was only approached yesterday regarding getting involved?? A little late,
I hope they can pull off some kind of event, Riverfest has been a great success for the last 4/5 years and it would be great for our city to have another weekend of note during the summer months

Is this not all happening on a Wednesday though? Hard to see it being that busy with people having to work that day.

Birdie086

Voy wrote: »

Is this not all happening on a Wednesday though? Hard to see it being that busy with people having to work that day.

According to the rep I dealt with it is to be a week long event but yet she could not give me any specifics??!! I wonder if she was actually genuine or just someone trying to make a quick buck now that I think about it...........

The Snipe

PM me the persons name, and I'll find out for you B.

Birdie086

The Snipe wrote: »

PM me the persons name, and I'll find out for you B.

She only told me her first name, which I forget because it was busy while she was there, heard a piece on the radio yesterday and it does sound like the pack she was selling was legit, so I probably jumped to the wrong conclusion.

Every other week there is someone looking for sponsorship for something, getting a little fed up with it, so hence the negativity on my part.

MrLaurel

Seems to be an awful lot of content in the website without any substance. For example, the Milk Market July 4th special. What pertaining to Independence Day is going on that warrants it's inclusion in the list of events?
Also, the Limerick Races meeting, the Limerick Walking Tour "American Walk" etc etc. Seems to have been an idea cobbled together quickly. What is the budget for the event as there are no posters or advertising.
What is the Route 66 pub trail? What pubs are involved? What are the pubs doing to warrant their inclusion in the festival line up?

Don't get me wrong. I'm sure some very well intentioned people decided to try to do something positive for the City but these days, you're only as good as your last event and putting on a five day "event" is extremely ambitious and could actually do you more harm than good. Especially when Eyre Square is being turned into a American zone for the week of the Volvo Ocean Race with a large party including attendance by the Ambassador. The US Embassy even recruited a Co-ordinator for the event in Galway.
http://dublin.usembassy.gov/job_opps_page/job-opportunities/july-4th-events-coordinator---galway.html

zulutango

True enough, MrLaurel, but to be fair to the organisers, they're probably looking at just getting something started this year on a shoestring which they can build on for 2013 and beyond. Better to start small with a long term view.

MrLaurel

zulutango wrote: »

Better to start small with a long term view.

Putting on a five day event on a "shoestring" (not my words ) is not starting small. Better to have put all your resources into a successful one day event and grow it from there.

zulutango

MrLaurel wrote: »

Putting on a five day event on a "shoestring" (not my words ) is not starting small. Better to have put all your resources into a successful one day event and grow it from there.

The thing is that they are starting small though, even though it's a 5 day event. How and ever, best of luck to them ..

eclectichoney

Aw I see the events seem to have changed from those originally planned? No Twilight Market - 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm | Pery Square | TBC

Ah well I am sure there will be other good stuff.

kiersm

eclectichoney wrote: »

Aw I see the events seem to have changed from those originally planned? No Twilight Market - 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm | Pery Square | TBC

Ah well I am sure there will be other good stuff.

Anyone no if any of the events listed ar happening after all today?

europa11

kiersm wrote: »

Anyone no if any of the events listed ar happening after all today?

Doesn't look like it.......Apart from the ball-hopping!

Happy Fourth of July!

zulutango

Just drove through town and there's plenty of 'stars and stripes' flags around the place. It's a bit cringeworthy. It's not as if we actually want to celebrate Independance Day. We just want the Yankee dollar.

Will be have French flags adorning the city on the 14th? If not, why not?

Kess73

zulutango wrote: »

Just drove through town and there's plenty of 'stars and stripes' flags around the place. It's a bit cringeworthy. It's not as if we actually want to celebrate Independance Day. We just want the Yankee dollar.

Will be have French flags adorning the city on the 14th? If not, why not?

The 3rd of October is the one we should be celebrating in Ireland.

The Snipe

MrLaurel wrote: »

Seems to be an awful lot of content in the website without any substance. For example, the Milk Market July 4th special. What pertaining to Independence Day is going on that warrants it's inclusion in the list of events?
Also, the Limerick Races meeting, the Limerick Walking Tour "American Walk" etc etc. Seems to have been an idea cobbled together quickly. What is the budget for the event as there are no posters or advertising.
What is the Route 66 pub trail? What pubs are involved? What are the pubs doing to warrant their inclusion in the festival line up?

Don't get me wrong. I'm sure some very well intentioned people decided to try to do something positive for the City but these days, you're only as good as your last event and putting on a five day "event" is extremely ambitious and could actually do you more harm than good. Especially when Eyre Square is being turned into a American zone for the week of the Volvo Ocean Race with a large party including attendance by the Ambassador. The US Embassy even recruited a Co-ordinator for the event in Galway.
http://dublin.usembassy.gov/job_opps_page/job-opportunities/july-4th-events-coordinator---galway.html

Few things to note:

The walking tour was an idea from the very beginning, as was the treasure trail (which was proposed by myself, and then improved upon by the committee as a group).

They have 0 budget. No funding. Nothing. They are doing it all with what they can get with sponsorship from retailers etc.

List of pubs on that are involved are on the flyers that went out, (Flyers were late coming out due to late finalisation of what was happening). The pubs warrent being part of it, by decorating the bar in American theme, serving american food/drink and providing American music etc.


As for the Ambassador, he was originally supposed to come to Limerick for this event, however, there was a conflict in his schedule, which has resulted in the Deputy Ambassador coming instead, for part of the festival.

zulutango wrote: »

True enough, MrLaurel, but to be fair to the organisers, they're probably looking at just getting something started this year on a shoestring which they can build on for 2013 and beyond. Better to start small with a long term view.

You hit the nail on the head. When we first started, we were aiming too big. And hence, we have scaled back the event, and spread it out over a number of days, to make our workload easier for each day.

We aim that in a few years, this will be the largest 4th of July Celebration outside of America.


As for why we are doing this? Its a celebration of Irish Americanism, a celebration of what Ireland gave to America and its culture, and a means to celebrate for the large amount of Irish people in Ireland, aswell as an incentive for people to get into the city, and see what it has to offer, especially from Larger American companies, some of which have been a great help.


I can honestly say, being an organiser in this event, it was honestly heartbreaking, and the amount of man hours that went in is beyond belief. You all need to remember, riverfest started out small, and didn't go too well to begin with, but now look at it!

For those who want to see a lineup, or more information, its all on the website: http://4thjulylimerick.com/

There is an American Poetry night in the White House tonight, And great things for families and the likes on all weekend too!

Hope to see some of you around for it!

Any questions that you may have, that I am able to answer, I'll have no problem in doing so.

-Cillian.

meoklmrk91

Fair play Cillian, there is of course somethings to be improved upon but looks like a fantastic effort for the first year and the fact that there was no budget. I will definitely be in to some of the events over the weekend, which will mark the first time I'll have been in the City Centre in a long while, about a year I would say.

The Snipe

Exactly, and we can already see where we went wrong in planning at points, and have fixed some of them, however for others its too late. This is the first year, and it is a whole new idea, and its our first event like this. The excitement and the positivity around the group involved is amazing, and I can honestly say, its a great way to meet new people & Make great friends!


I would highly recommend anyone interested in getting involved in next years event, especially if you feel it could have been done differently and improved! But, I'm saying that all a bit premature, as the festival only started!

DaveNoCheese

Fair play to you Cillian and the rest of the organisers. The schedule looks good, hopefully it'll work out.

Spotted the flyer in centra this morning, tis a pity ye couldn't get them out earlier. Could've been well advertised. As for the flyer itself, well done. Map is a bit confusing if you don't know Limerick but it does look good.

Kess73

I think the Limerick 4th of July festival needed to be bigger this year given that Limerick was not the only town having one and given that Limerick is not the only town that intends on having it each year so there is going to be a fair bit of competition and the first of the July 4th festivals that makes a big impact will be seen as the "real" one regardless of who actually decided to have one first.

I also think that it is made that bit more difficult by the fact that Galway, Kerry , and Cork all have a number of big and very well run festivals at this time every year.

I think the Limerick festival would be better served being a two day thing, three at most (one day being July 4th obv, and the other day/two days being the weekend that falls closest to the 4th July assuming the 4th is not on a weekend.

A big firework display in the actual 4th July would make a lot of sense and I would have a reinactment of the ringing of the Liberty bell (fantastic idea by Kilburn) happen just before the fireworks. Maybe have an actor in a period costume do a short sketch that gives a little of the history behind the Liberty bell or if money was available try to get someone from The Whitechapel Foundry involved as the company still exists today. Tie in the city of Philadelphia in some way as well. Maybe have projected images of the actual liberty bell etc on a screen as the actor talks about the history of it.


Another option would be to try and think big and look for a celebrity to ring the bell. I don't mean what passes for local "celebs", but try for someone who has an American link or who may be based in America. Andy Lee might be a good choice or maybe even try for Jared Harris. If you don't try big, then you will never know how far you can actually go.


A charity basketball game would be a good idea as well and use the UL basketball team and pit them against another Irish team as the back up match, but maybe try to see if an American pro or semi pro team would like to be involved in a charity match first.


Try to get a local cinema or the belltable involved in a weekend of American cinema or try to organise for a stage version of one of the American classics (The Grapes of Wrath, 12 Angry Men, Of Mice And Men, To Kill A Mockingbird) to be held.

Or maybe a reading of one of the classic American novels that could be held somewhere like Marys cathedral. Could get one guest reader in for it, or maybe have three or four readers.


The Limerick 4th of July organisers would not have to pay for all those things, but if they were clever they would discuss the ideas with other organisations and all try to tie in together to take advantage of each other's events.

Kess73

DaveNoCheese wrote: »

Fair play to you Cillian and the rest of the organisers. The schedule looks good, hopefully it'll work out.

Spotted the flyer in centra this morning, tis a pity ye couldn't get them out earlier. Could've been well advertised. As for the flyer itself, well done. Map is a bit confusing if you don't know Limerick but it does look good.

I'm a bit worried about the giant spider that is crossing the Shannon. We need either Superman (some might get the reference) or Will Smith to stop it.

zulutango

Kess, I think you should go on the organising committee. You've obviously got a lot of expertise and understanding of how this should be rolled out, and they would be only too happy to have someone like you helping them.

Kess73

zulutango wrote: »

Kess, I think you should go on the organising committee. You've obviously got a lot of expertise and understanding of how this should be rolled out, and they would be only too happy to have someone like you helping them.

The Snipe

Honestly I agree with him, You should try the committee next year. I'll go through your post in a while too point by point :P

Kess73

The Snipe wrote: »

Honestly I agree with him, You should try the committee next year. I'll go through your post in a while too point by point :P

Have a fair bit of my time committed to two Irish projects that I have invested in, as well as being involved with the organisation of the Run Liverpool marathon each year.


My post was just a few ideas that I spent literally four or five minutes mulling over. With proper planing and proper resource allocation a good festivel of medium scale could easily be put in place in Limerick. The problem with a lot of brand new events is that they get stretched too thin when they first try to start through a combination of enthusiasm and lack of experience/expertise.

The 4th of July festival for this year is (looking from the outside) too long in terms of duration, lacking in any kind of Wow factor, looks thrown together rather than planned by professionals, and lacking badly in terms of quality events. The advertising was weak, and I have to say that the radio interview sounded very unprofessional, and came across as having great enthusiasm but lacking experience/expertise.

But these are all things that would be easy enough to avoid next year and it is now that you need to be planning next year's event and not three to six months beforehand.


As an example of obvious. Something like an American marching band playing outdoors for free or an Irish marching band dressed in American garb and playing music that is unmistakenly American/American influenced would be a no brainer as a way to create atmosphere. Could even do a flash mob variation where band members are all hidden somewhere and all come out and start playing for a song or two and then vanish to go to their next location.

I know there is a marching band that was playing in Dolans, but that was €15 a head and as it was behind closed door and down on the Dock road it would not be creating atmosphere in the city.

I would have approached one of the MCs and tried to have organised a drive by and maybe get a few local artists to do do work on the biker's helmets etc if the bikers were agreeable.

Maybe approach the council about getting American flags in the windows of unused council property or approach Limerick landlords about doing something with the windows of unused units.

The art venue on Patrick street I would have tried to use for an Americano art exbo.

Maybe even try to get the Market quarter guys to see if they could try another outdoor event in their area.

I would also have tried to tap into the colleges and the University for ideas and manpower. Many hands make light work and there are some very talented students in terms of musical ability, costume design etc that could come in useful.

Lots of people in bright loud costumes just walking about handing out leaflets and promoting the event.

Of course permission would have to be gotten from City council etc for many things, but if the right channels were followed who knows how many unexpected doors might open.


And don't be afraid to look outside Limerick for attractions/people. If there is someone in another city or whatever that has a talent or is in a band etc and could be an attraction, then make contact and ask. The worst that can happen is the word no.

Make the event attractive enough for businesses to want to attach their names to it and suddenly you have funding or resources through that advertising and make sure to see if any grants can be gotten for certain events.


Shorter timescale, more professionalism, think big, and think obvious.

NinjaK

There is more celebration for this foreign Independence day then our own, what a farce of a country.

The Snipe

Kess73 wrote: »

I think the Limerick 4th of July festival needed to be bigger this year given that Limerick was not the only town having one and given that Limerick is not the only town that intends on having it each year so there is going to be a fair bit of competition and the first of the July 4th festivals that makes a big impact will be seen as the "real" one regardless of who actually decided to have one first.

It was origionally bigger, but we had to scale it back due to people being unavilable etc. and certain things just being impractical. This is all just a learning curve for all of us, and we have to learn to walk before we run, and we can't get ahead of ourselves. We need to know what we can and can't do.

I think the Limerick festival would be better served being a two day thing, three at most (one day being July 4th obv, and the other day/two days being the weekend that falls closest to the 4th July assuming the 4th is not on a weekend.

This was the origional plan, however having the 4th of July on a wednesday makes it impractical, we were still hoping for a 2 Day event, but with the hassle with the Ambassador, it ended up stretched out.

A big firework display in the actual 4th July would make a lot of sense and I would have a reinactment of the ringing of the Liberty bell (fantastic idea by Kilburn) happen just before the fireworks. Maybe have an actor in a period costume do a short sketch that gives a little of the history behind the Liberty bell or if money was available try to get someone from The Whitechapel Foundry involved as the company still exists today. Tie in the city of Philadelphia in some way as well. Maybe have projected images of the actual liberty bell etc on a screen as the actor talks about the history of it.

Firework displays are very hard to organize and cost an awful lot. We had a lot of trouble in getting them. As for the Liberty bell, thats a great idea - And I've mentioned it, and we'll more then likely look into it next year.

Another option would be to try and think big and look for a celebrity to ring the bell. I don't mean what passes for local "celebs", but try for someone who has an American link or who may be based in America. Andy Lee might be a good choice or maybe even try for Jared Harris. If you don't try big, then you will never know how far you can actually go.

As was menioned, there was plans of this with the American Ambassador, however we do have the Deputy Ambassador coming along. However, for ringing the bell, we'll sort that next year if we go with it.

A charity basketball game would be a good idea as well and use the UL basketball team and pit them against another Irish team as the back up match, but maybe try to see if an American pro or semi pro team would like to be involved in a charity match first.

We had plans to do an American Football game, with an American team however, the Vikings couldn't make it anymore, due to a change in dates.

Try to get a local cinema or the belltable involved in a weekend of American cinema or try to organise for a stage version of one of the American classics (The Grapes of Wrath, 12 Angry Men, Of Mice And Men, To Kill A Mockingbird) to be held.

We had an American Poetry night last night, but I don't think we could do a video screening due to copyright issues.

Or maybe a reading of one of the classic American novels that could be held somewhere like Marys cathedral. Could get one guest reader in for it, or maybe have three or four readers.

As said above, we had the Poetry night, however, a novel reading wouldn't be a bad idea either.

The Limerick 4th of July organisers would not have to pay for all those things, but if they were clever they would discuss the ideas with other organisations and all try to tie in together to take advantage of each other's events.

Thats what we have done, for example the Hip hop festival, and 4th of July.

Kess73 wrote: »

Have a fair bit of my time committed to two Irish projects that I have invested in, as well as being involved with the organisation of the Run Liverpool marathon each year.

Fair play to you, great to see people getting involved in projects!

My post was just a few ideas that I spent literally four or five minutes mulling over. With proper planing and proper resource allocation a good festivel of medium scale could easily be put in place in Limerick. The problem with a lot of brand new events is that they get stretched too thin when they first try to start through a combination of enthusiasm and lack of experience/expertise.

At first we were lacking experience, but have since near the end got others who are experienced in the field.

The 4th of July festival for this year is (looking from the outside) too long in terms of duration, lacking in any kind of Wow factor, looks thrown together rather than planned by professionals, and lacking badly in terms of quality events. The advertising was weak, and I have to say that the radio interview sounded very unprofessional, and came across as having great enthusiasm but lacking experience/expertise.

Well, as we said, trying to get everything done right, when you are doing it all for free and for the very first time is quite difficult and we can't always get it right in the beginning.

But these are all things that would be easy enough to avoid next year and it is now that you need to be planning next year's event and not three to six months beforehand.

We've learned this from our experience this year, and that is what the plan is.

As an example of obvious. Something like an American marching band playing outdoors for free or an Irish marching band dressed in American garb and playing music that is unmistakenly American/American influenced would be a no brainer as a way to create atmosphere. Could even do a flash mob variation where band members are all hidden somewhere and all come out and start playing for a song or two and then vanish to go to their next location.

We were researching getting marching bands over but it never came to fruition this year.

I know there is a marching band that was playing in Dolans, but that was €15 a head and as it was behind closed door and down on the Dock road it would not be creating atmosphere in the city.

Dolans are organizing that on their own and is nothing to do with us.

Maybe approach the council about getting American flags in the windows of unused council property or approach Limerick landlords about doing something with the windows of unused units.

Getting them to put flags on the bridges was hard enough. As for the windows, there is already a plan in place for that within LLH as far as I know. If there is I'm not involved in it. Which is for more then just the 4J Fest, but rather to make them look not so desolate overall.

Maybe even try to get the Market quarter guys to see if they could try another outdoor event in their area.

They are onboard under Route 66 alright, but it wouldn't be fair to let all the other bars out of it aswell, when they are all involved.

I would also have tried to tap into the colleges and the University for ideas and manpower. Many hands make light work and there are some very talented students in terms of musical ability, costume design etc that could come in useful.

That is what we had done and we are getting great help from a large American company in Limerick.

Lots of people in bright loud costumes just walking about handing out leaflets and promoting the event.

As we said, funding, and nothing was finalized until last minute due to a few problems.

Of course permission would have to be gotten from City council etc for many things, but if the right channels were followed who knows how many unexpected doors might open.

That was a problem we had this year, in that we hadn't already researched cut off dates for permissions for a lot of things, and although we posed an exemplary case and received some licenses. We now know what we need to do for next year.

And don't be afraid to look outside Limerick for attractions/people. If there is someone in another city or whatever that has a talent or is in a band etc and could be an attraction, then make contact and ask. The worst that can happen is the word no.

Don't worry we wont, but we are also aiming to get Limerick talent to show what Limerick has.

Make the event attractive enough for businesses to want to attach their names to it and suddenly you have funding or resources through that advertising and make sure to see if any grants can be gotten for certain events.

Thats exactly what we are doing. :P

Shorter timescale, more professionalism, think big, and think obvious.

Thats the plan!

kilburn

Some good ideas and planning for next year would make it bigger and better, thing is and I totally agree with Kess, this year you had to really aim big and push the bar as for some reason everyone has decided that this year they are going down this route.

Festivals only work if you give the people what they want, on any given day how many yanks are in Ireland? Make it the place they want to be in Ireland on this day.

By the way I am copyrighting the Liberty Bell idea, but I can have that organised for you guys next year if you wish.

Sar_Bear

I think it's a fantastic idea. The Americans go all out for paddys day, so why shouldn't we do it for the 4th of July? I'm just disappointed that I'm working through it all

The Snipe

There are actually quite a few Americans in Ireland.

As for the festivle it's about celebrating for them, and for celebrating what we gave to the American culture. Ireland has a lot of history with America and a lot of our families would have had some members emmingrate to there in the last few hounded years.

Poxyshamrock

Sar_Bear wrote: »

I think it's a fantastic idea. The Americans go all out for paddys day, so why shouldn't we do it for the 4th of July? I'm just disappointed that I'm working through it all

The funny thing about St. Patrick's Day though is that the Americans pretty much invented it.

Kess73

The Snipe wrote: »

It was origionally bigger, but we had to scale it back due to people being unavilable etc. and certain things just being impractical. This is all just a learning curve for all of us, and we have to learn to walk before we run, and we can't get ahead of ourselves. We need to know what we can and can't do.


This was the origional plan, however having the 4th of July on a wednesday makes it impractical, we were still hoping for a 2 Day event, but with the hassle with the Ambassador, it ended up stretched out.


Firework displays are very hard to organize and cost an awful lot. We had a lot of trouble in getting them. As for the Liberty bell, thats a great idea - And I've mentioned it, and we'll more then likely look into it next year.


As was menioned, there was plans of this with the American Ambassador, however we do have the Deputy Ambassador coming along. However, for ringing the bell, we'll sort that next year if we go with it.


We had plans to do an American Football game, with an American team however, the Vikings couldn't make it anymore, due to a change in dates.


We had an American Poetry night last night, but I don't think we could do a video screening due to copyright issues.


As said above, we had the Poetry night, however, a novel reading wouldn't be a bad idea either.

Thats what we have done, for example the Hip hop festival, and 4th of July.



Fair play to you, great to see people getting involved in projects!

At first we were lacking experience, but have since near the end got others who are experienced in the field.



Well, as we said, trying to get everything done right, when you are doing it all for free and for the very first time is quite difficult and we can't always get it right in the beginning.



We've learned this from our experience this year, and that is what the plan is.




We were researching getting marching bands over but it never came to fruition this year.



Dolans are organizing that on their own and is nothing to do with us.



Getting them to put flags on the bridges was hard enough. As for the windows, there is already a plan in place for that within LLH as far as I know. If there is I'm not involved in it. Which is for more then just the 4J Fest, but rather to make them look not so desolate overall.




They are onboard under Route 66 alright, but it wouldn't be fair to let all the other bars out of it aswell, when they are all involved.




That is what we had done and we are getting great help from a large American company in Limerick.



As we said, funding, and nothing was finalized until last minute due to a few problems.



That was a problem we had this year, in that we hadn't already researched cut off dates for permissions for a lot of things, and although we posed an exemplary case and received some licenses. We now know what we need to do for next year.




Don't worry we wont, but we are also aiming to get Limerick talent to show what Limerick has.





Thats exactly what we are doing. :P



Thats the plan!

Just one thing about your comment about copyright issues regarding screening a film. There are a number of cult American films that had their copyright status enter the public domain. Do a bit of searching and you will find a number of American films that can be shown legally without any copyright hassles. George Romero's Night Of The Living Dead (1968 version) is one such film.

That film would also be a good one for anyone who wants to do a theme night around Halloween. Consider it another freebie idea.

On the subject of Night Of The Living Dead, The Devious Theatre Company will be putting on the first ever stage version of that film to be done in Ireland in Kilkenny later this month. Their version will be set in 2012 Ireland rather than 1968 America and from what I have seen of them in practise it will be ace. If anyone reading this has the ability to get them to come to Limerick to perform, you will not be disappointed.


Also people should look at the really clever way The Devious Theatre Company got funding for their project. Limerick 4th of July folk take heed and discover www.fundit.ie.


You say you were researching the idea of bringing over a marching band. Look again at what I said. Get an Irish marching band and dress them in American garb and get them to play American tunes. That way you get the same look, the sdame sound, the same atmosphere, but don't have the same logistics.

Sar_Bear

The fireworks started very late and finished very quickly

The actual fireworks were alot better than the ones used for the riverfest though.

Watched em from work

phog

Decent enough display but I was disappointed with most of my photos.


Here's one.

The Snipe

Sarah, the fireworks was actually a full 10 minute display which is quite long in terms of pyrotechnics!

Sar_Bear

Ah okay, I wouldn't know much about that side of things. My fireworks knowledge goes as far as "they're bright & they go bang" :pac:

mathepac

Sure why not?

Quite a few posters here type & spell American, they like even speak American dude, eat American Big Mac & a side, they drive on the hi-way (maybe even eat there), they like their cars stock, if they steal a car they believe sincerely they'll get charged with GTA, they don't understand why we don't have Labor Day and Independence Day celebrations and their fathers & grandfathers probably worked for some US multination tax-free Corp in Shannon, Raheen, Parteen or Gillogue.

Sure why not sell the Mid-west to Obama - he can add it to his own Mid-west and gain a few votes and we won't miss it.

Johnny_BravoIII

The Americans go all out for paddys day, so why shouldn't we do it for the 4th of July?

The difference is there are millions of Irish descended Americans living in the states. St Paddys is a celebration of their their history & culture.

We have about 4 Americans living in Limerick. It would of been cheaper to buy them a cake.

I'm just a little unenthused. It's hard to get excited for something which tastes like nothing more than a cynical marketing exercise designed to grab the yankee dollar.

Actually, IMO the hip-hop element of the festival has the potential to become something.

The Snipe

Johnny_BravoIII wrote: »

The Americans go all out for paddys day, so why shouldn't we do it for the 4th of July?

The difference is there are millions of Irish descended Americans living in the states. St Paddys is a celebration of their their history & culture.

We have about 4 Americans living in Limerick. It would of been cheaper to buy them a cake.

I'm just a little unenthused. It's hard to get excited for something which tastes like nothing more than a cynical marketing exercise designed to grab the yankee dollar.

Actually, IMO the hip-hop element of the festival has the potential to become something.

You sir, need to do your research. There are countless Americans living in Limerick and the Midwest region, nevermind the countless tourists.

I've met so many of these in the last few weeks with my involvement so I know this for a fact. For example I was photographing from the strand, and the place was full of Americans who loved the idea of the festival.


As for your statement about a cynical marketing plan. I am truely bloody insulted. Myself and the others have put in countless man hours to see this true all to see a bit of life getting back into the city. Which in my opinion worked as there was a great buzz the last few days and everyone seemed to love it. Its about time to start putting Limerick on the map again, and this is going to be the start of how its done!