ONE of Ireland’s best summer festivals will take place in Limerick next month with Riverfest 2018 set to attract thousands to the city.
The summer will be noisily and colourfully waved in across the May Bank Holiday weekend in Limerick as the Shannonside city becomes the focus for the first major national festival of the year.
Riverfest 2018 is set to draw more than 85,000 to the banks of the Shannon for the biggest celebration yet in the fourteenth year of a festival that has made this first summer bank holiday weekend of the year its own.
The four-day celebration includes everything from high-octane water based activities across the weekend to the country’s biggest fireworks display of the summer, its largest BBQ cook-off, celebrations of food and fashion, outdoor and indoor concerts and the Bon Secours Hospital Great Limerick Run.
Among the major new attractions this year will be the first visit to Ireland by the Seabreacher Shark – a daredevil ride all the way from Queenstown, New Zealand. This 18ft ‘shark-craft’ can travel at speeds of up to 80km per hour, soar 18ft high out of the water, dip up to 5ft under the water, do side rolls and doughnuts.
The water based activities for the Limerick Strand Hotel Riverfest on the Shannon will also involve a free Double Zipline across the Shannon, Water Zorbing, Kayaking, and a social swim that will have hundreds getting a different perspective of the great river.
“Limerick is a city very much on the up and Riverfest is a reflection of this. It has grown and grown as a festival over the years to become not alone the biggest gathering in Ireland of the May Bank Holiday weekend by far but also one the biggest Irish summer festivals,” Mayor of Limerick City and County, Cllr Stephen Keary enthused at the launch of the event this week.
“Limerick is the largest urban centre on Ireland’s largest river so it’s only right that we would turn to it for a celebration like this.”
Riverfest also includes annual favourites such as The Riverfestival Village, at Arthur’s Quay – a weekend long cacophony of foods, crafts, vintage amusements, street performers and live musical entertainment.
The Limerick Food Experience in the Garden of the Hunt Museum will showcase the best quality, locally produced food and drink that Limerick has to offer while the Saturday will also see one of the annual high points of the festival take place as Ireland’s largest BBQ cook-off takes place with teams representing cuisines around the world competing for honours.
Visit www.riverfest.ie for full festival details.
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