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Athlone Literary Festival |
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The festival is a mixture of sports, cookery demonstrations, cultural performances and information stands promoting the various European countries involved. It is usually held the last week of July, the participating countries arrive on the Saturday evening, are settled into their accommodation bases and welcomed by the host town officials. The host town is responsible for feeding, accommodating and entertaining the visiting participants. Normally the weeks events start with an ecumenical service on the Sunday morning, followed by a parade later in the afternoon. In recent years the opening parade has been a very colourful and entertaining affair attracting thousands of locals to meet and greet the visiting Europeans. Tonnta Street Theatre has created a patriotic theme for the Parade with St. Patrick and a 30ft flowing snake. Each of the participating countries compete for the remainder of the week in sporting competitions and fun events such as Mr. And Ms. Europe Contest, European quiz, Painting and Photography Competitions. This year the sporting activities include; football, basketball, swimming, table tennis, ptanque, beach volleyball, running, badminton, table tennis and archery. The promotional stands, cookery demonstrations and cultural performances are scheduled daily at different periods during the week and attract huge interest from locals and visitors to the host region. It is an excellent opportunity to promote Athlone and Ireland and the promotional stand recreates an Irish atmosphere by providing brochures, videos recordings, Irish music, samples of food and drink, friendly conversation and good craic. The cultural group under the direction of Tom OConnor provides a selection of excellent traditional Irish music, song and dance. Every year the host country provides advice on where the participants should visit on a FREE day during the course of the week. It is an opportunity for the host country to promote local or regional tourism facilities.
The week ends with a Grande Finale on the Friday night, a farewell dinner, presentation of prizes and a party. Addresses, numbers and more recently e-mails are exchanged between participants who are delighted to have been involved in this incredible experience.
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06/10/2006 -
07/10/2006 |
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