The Westport Food Festival will have an extra air of excitement tomorrow as a big screen has been set up at the quay so everyone can watch the All-Ireland final.
Today in the food festival village there will be samples on offer from local hotels, restaurants and food producers. There are also free cookery demonstrations, including a masterclass on filleting fish and a free lecture on creating gardens in small places. Tomorrow's highlights include foraging for mushrooms at Knockranny woods and a free family food treasure hunt. westportfoodfestival.ie
The Ballybunion Country and Irish Music Festival in Co Kerry will include such acts as Declan Nerney, Mike Denver and Dave Lawlor. The Shorelines Arts Festival in Portumna, Co Galway, is tomorrow holding a retrospective on the writings of former Irish Times journalist Declan Burke Kennedy and his wife Mary Elizabeth.
Meanwhile, Dervish singer Cathy Jordan, members of Kíla and author Brian Leyden will be among the artists marking Frackdown Day, an international day to ban fracking. Events take place today 3-6pm in Manorhamilton, Co Leitrim.
One festival this weekend came about as an indirect result of the fallout of the property crash . The Sandyford Urban Art Festival, to be held in Sandyford, south Dublin, is part of a Nama-funded project to build a boulevard and park as an amenity for residents in an unfinished property. The hoarding of the new public space will be decorated by a team of international urban artists. The festival includes workshops from 1-5pm today and tomorrow at Blackthorn Drive. fuas.ie
The first weekend of the 11-day Clifden Arts Festival includes performances by pianist Finghin Collins and traditional group De Dannan tonight. Literary highlights of the Connemara town's 35th festival include a writing workshop with poet James Harpur today and a poetry reading by John F Deane and Paddy Bushe tomorrow. Among the theatrical events are an interview with Druid Theatre director Garry Hynes this afternoon. clifdenartsweek.ie
Last, but not least, the Co Kilkenny town of Graiguenamanagh hosts its 10th Town of Books Festival this weekend. Booksellers will take over much of the village which will have a book trail, a treasure trail, author readings, jazz by the river Barrow and a food and craft fair. irelandstownofbooks.blogspot.com