Carnival

STREET ENTERTAINMENT

Saturday 22nd & Sunday 23rd March

Coconut Samba
Bringing their Euro-Samba style rhythms all the way from … Dingle, The Coconuts will have you bouncing to their beats as they shake & move through the parade.

Cork Circus
Cork Circus is a collective of innovative, experienced and highly charged performers. Watch out for their surprising new contributions to this parade followed by their Fire Twirling Show in the Town Square after the firework display.

Fanzini Bros
Samhlaíocht is proud to welcome back the amazing spectacle that is the Fanzini Experience. These West Kerry crackers will entertain and amaze with their astonishing antics throughout the parade.

Fumbling Baffoonery
Tralee is no stranger to buffoons hanging around the place! But these two tall, colourful dudes will certainly brighten The Town Centre Square when they arrive to entertain us all on Easter Saturday.

FESTIVAL PARADE

19.30 Sunday 23rd March
Tralee Town Centre

Start point: Siamsa Tire Laneway (opp Brandon Hotel)
Finish: Ashe Memorial Hall/County Museum

The 17th annual Samhlaíocht Easter Arts parade will be an astounding event. Creative and colourful contributions from our Kerry Group 5 Communities Project along with a variety of hard working community groups and an array of professional entertainers will ensure the parade is bigger, better and brighter than ever before!

Leading our parade for the first time ever are members of the Igbo community, originally from Nigeria. The group, which is comprised of native African dancers and drummers, will bring their unique energy, their pounding beats and pulsating rhythms to the streets of Tralee in a show that’s not to be missed. The Parade will finish with a grand finale, a fantastic firework display, which takes place at 20.30 at the Ashe Memorial Hall.

But that’s not all… the entertainment continues in the Town Square right up until 22.00. So from dancers with feet of flames, to fireworks via fire-eaters the Samhlaíocht Easter Arts Parade promises to be the hottest evening of the year!

THE KERRY GROUP 5 COMMUNITIES’ PROJECT

Shanakill After School Club - Tralee

Building on their previous experience of participating in our parade, Shanakill is welcomed into the 2008 Kerry Group 5 Communites’ Project. This group of 6-12yrs olds have been working with a choreographer to combine their spectacular costumes with a dance and drama routine.

Mercy Mounthawk Secondary School with Life Links & Life Programme - Tralee

We welcome the collaboration of these 2 groups both bursting with creativity, enthusiasm and imagination. The Transition Year students of Mercy Mounthawk have been working through their lunch breaks with these St. John of Gods groups to bring us a parade act that promises to be colourful, show stopping entertaining.

KDYS Iveragh Park Youth Group - Killorglin

These creative young people are going to be depicting the Amazon Jungle under this year’s parade theme, Planet Earth. While their artistic interpretation is sure to be an amazing and colourful one, these globally conscious participants will also be highlighting the effects of deforestation.

The Open Door Network - Tralee

The Open Door Network is a co-ordinated response to violence against women and children with 20 member organisations across Co. Kerry. We look forward to their participation this year which will include their own specially developed puppets, all with their own individual characters.

Delphi Youth Forum Group - Killarney

This active group of young people, all over the age of 14 years, come together to discuss issues and participate in activities that are of interest and relevance to their lives. Actively involved in all things creative, they will be representing all things icy by focusing on the Polar Ice Cap as part of our Planet Earth theme.

THE KERRY GROUP 5 COMMUNITIES’ PROJECT IS ONLY POSSIBLE THANKS TO THE GENEROUS SUPPORT OF KERRY GROUP WHO HAVE BEEN THE MAIN CORPORATE SPONSORS OF SAMHLAÍOCHT SINCE ITS INCEPTION IN 1992

For the first time this year K.E.S and Kerry County Council are supporting the KERRY GROUP 5 COMMUNITIES’ PROJECT through educating and providing materials for the individual groups.