THE LIMERICK Bastille Day Wild Geese Festival, organised by Alliance Française Limerick, has unveiled its programme of events for this year.
The city’s annual summer festival commemorating Limerick’s Wild Geese heritage and celebrating the friendship between Ireland and France will take place on Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 July.
Dr Loïc Guyon, Honorary Consul of France and founder of the festival, said: “ Since 2019, the festival has grown from strength to strength, has generated national media attention and has become the summer festival Limerick needed.”
“I wish to thank wholeheartedly my fellow organisers and, of course, our two institutional sponsors, five corporate sponsors and the 37 local businesses and community groups which are generously supporting us this year and making it all possible”.
On top of the now traditional animations and historical reenactments in the Hunt Museum garden on the Saturday afternoon, one of the highlights of this year’s edition will be a Bastille Day Weekend Banquet at the Milk Market, on the evening of July 15, with an eight-course menu designed by the crème de la crème of the Limerick food scene, a Wild Geese art exhibition, and a performance by Limerick’s own Emma Langford.
Another highlight will be a parade and ceremony supported by the Defence Forces with, for the first time, the Defence Forces Band travelling to Limerick for the occasion, which will be held on Sunday 16 at 2.30pm at the United Nations Peace Garden, followed by a show of specially commissioned artistic works in Saint Mary’s Cathedral.
The free show will include a new performance of Francis Ward’s 2021 Cuimhnigh ar Sarsfield: The Wild Geese Suite, a poetic-musical tribute to Patrick Sarsfield and the Wild Geese combining music, dance by Scoil Uí Ruairc, and lyrics written by Orfhlaith and Mairéad Ní Bhriain.
One of the most anticipated events will be a screening of ‘The Flight of the Wild Geese,’ a film entirely written, directed, and produced by teachers Fionnula Bromell and Diarmuid Hickey from Corpus Christi Primary School in Moyross, telling the story of the 1690 and 1691 sieges of Limerick and starring fifth-class pupils in the roles of the Jacobites, the French, and the Williamites.
The festival will end by a farewell to the Wild Geese on the Shannon River organised in partnership with the Curraghour Boat Club.
The full programme for this year’s festivities can be found on Limerick.ie/discover/whats-on/festivals/limerick-bastille-day-wild-geese-festival-2023.
