SPOOKY plans were afoot at County Hall this week to breathe new life into Limerick’s medieval quarter this Halloween.
Members of Lumen Street Theatre gave a hair-raising presentation to local representatives at this month’s Cultural Strategic Policy Committee (SPC) meeting in Dooradoyle on Monday afternoon.
They proposed a flagship family-friendly festival event on October 31, kicking off around 5.30pm that would include a parade of light through the medieval quarter of the city with a procession of lanterns made by the local community. The event would then culminate in a launch of the lantern tributes onto the River Shannon as an exercise in banishing the darkness and remembering the souls of the dead.
Dr Annemarie Ryan of Lumen Street Theatre believes such an event would prove “very attractive” to visitors.
“We would be bringing people back into the heart of the old city and it would have a broad benefit, not just for Nicholas Street. It is not just Shop Street in Galway that benefits from Macnas. It would have a real economic impact,” she told council members.
Lumen’s magical Halloween spectacle aims to include fire performance and educational, fun events for children through ghost tours in costume and eerie storytelling. The Irish roots of Samhain, they say, will be embraced in the lead up to the event through talks and tours on history and folklore. There will also be master classes and community workshops exploring costume, lantern making and traditional Halloween craft.
Fine Gael councillor Marian Hurley said it was lovely to see homegrown groups such as Lumen come to the fore.
“It is wonderful to see Nicholas Street used for such an event, it is ideal,” she added.
Independent councillor Lisa Marie Sheehy welcomed the festival proposal and believed it has “massive potential”. She also urged the theatre group to involve community groups from County Limerick to make it a more “inclusive” event.
“We are all part of the one county,” she pointed out.
Fianna Fail councillor James Collins was also enthused about the proposal.
“There isn’t a lot happening at Halloween so I welcome this idea and think we could achieve quite a bit,” he declared.
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