About
St. Patrick's Day Parades will be the centre of celebrations in Downpatrick and Newry on St Patrick’s Day. Led by Saint Patrick himself, the Parades on Thursday 17 March will offer a feast for eyes and ears as swirling dancers, community floats and costumed characters entertain the crowds.
In Newry, Hill Street is the place to be on St Patrick’s Day from 12noon with a wide range of fun activities for the whole family in Marcus Square and Margaret Square. There will also be pop up stages at Sugar Island and St Colman’s park with the best in local street entertainment. Entertainment on the main stage includes live music from Belfast Singer-songwriter Brian Kennedy, The Logues and The Blues Katz, as well as many more. Other activities include face painting, crafts, clay modelling and more.
The Newry Parade will set off from The Albert Basin at 1pm and follow the route along Buttercrane Quay, Merchants Quay, Sugar Island to Kildare Street. This years parade will be compared by Gary Myles from Downtown Radio.
Between 10am to 2.30pm Newry and Mourne Museum at Bagenal’s Castle will host children’s arts and crafts workshops. This will involve children making their own designs and pendants all themed around St. Patrick ’s Day, so dress for mess. These sessions are free of charge, but numbers are limited to 10 children so pre-booking of places is advisable.
Newry’s new Family Festival Village will be hosted at the city’s McClelland Park. From 12noon there will be a wide range of family fun activities to be enjoyed including the best in local live Performances, Arts and Crafts, Pop-up Drama, walkabout characters, face painting and wide range of family friendly activities.
Entertainment
Festival Stage, Marcus Square, Newry
12:00 The Logues
13:00 Brian Kennedy
14:00 Blues Katz
15:00 Weston Loney
16:00 New Brass Kings
Small Stage Perfomances in Newry
Time Sean Hollywood Centre
12:00 Jack Devlin
13:00 Music Matter - Ru Cahill
14:00 Jordan Mc Polin
15:00 Those Guys
Time McClelland Park Stage
12:00 Aislinn Fegan (3-piece Trad)
13:00 Warrenpoint Comhaltas
14:00 Dixieland Jazz Band
15:00 Ring of Gullion Comhaltas
Time McClelland Marquee
12:00 Cleamairí Feirste (Mummers) - Acoustic only
13:30 The Patron Saints of Ireland (Comedy) C21 Performance 1
15:00 The Patron Saints of Ireland (Comedy) C21 Performance 2
Quays Shopping Centre
Sharon Cahill - Harpists - Acoustic only (TBC)
