CORK:CULTURE NIGHT brought out the curious spirit in Cork last night, with a dizzying range of 200 events to choose from. City folk were pounding the pavements, programmes in hand, duty-bound to take in as much as possible.
The 2011 line-up was the city’s biggest to date, with 75 venues hosting everything from choral displays to candle installations – and that’s not counting the county.
Tickets for a romantic evening kayak trip on the Lee were snapped up. The activity was the culmination of an evening of stories and music with a focus on the river. Jim Kennedy of Atlantic Sea Kayaking intertwined tales of a childhood spent on the river with music by Irish solo artists Jessie Kennedy and Tony Davis.
Touring the city from the quiet calm of the water, Jim told the story of the golden angel at St Finbarr’s Cathedral.
“Coming down the river by Sunday’s Well the golden angel comes into view. The story goes that when the angel falls from his perch, the world will end. It’s always a relief to see it’s still there,” he said.
For those who missed the kayak tour, the team at Meitheal Mara, Cork’s maritime cultural and educational centre, together with the Cork Centre for Architectural Education, recorded a journey around the city’s central island.
Filmed from the bow of a kayak, the exhibit aims to add a new dimension to exploring Cork by boat, providing details of tides, weirs and bridges for a successful circumnavigation of the city.
Giddy winners of tickets to a Julie Feeney gig at a secret location assembled at Parnell Place for a 15-minute mystery tour to the heights of Montenotte.
The gig began in the magnificent foyer of the 18th century Montenotte House – now used as an educational centre by the Cope Foundation – before descending a marble staircase to enter the main function room, which offered stunning night-lit views to Lough Mahon and Cobh Island.
Others boarded free buses laid on by Bus Éireann, with music and performances in transit, to locations including County Hall on the western outskirts where the 16th floor became a cinema screening a series of short films shot locally.
Swing dancing as Gaeilge and book-binding workshops brought a hunger on the crowd, some of whom were treated to a harvest party feast at the South Presentation schoolyard.