THERE'LL be dancing in the streets of Dublin next March, if Michael Colgan's vision of the perfect St. Patrick's Day goes according to plan. Dublin's first three day festival devoted to the holiday was announced in a blaze of fire eating at the Mansion House on Tuesday, when the Minister of Tourism and Transport, Enda Kenny, explained how the day will be magically extended to a three day weekend.
Following the measured success of last year's revamped celebrations, St. Patrick's Day will no longer consist solely of a forced march down O'Connell Street in the cold. The 1997 festival will feature even more ceol, craic, and lots more hours on the party clock.
Dublin's Lord Mayor, Brendan Lynch, retired city manager Frank Feeley and Bord Failte's marketing director Noel Toolen were on hand to witness this tourist friendly announcement, while RTE's David Blake Knox was there, presumably to ensure extra televisual coverage of the events. "St. Patrick's Day should be a celebration of our national holiday and not just a parade of commercial floats," said Michael Colgan. "It should be in keeping with what Ireland is today, a place of craic and confidence. We want a festival for children and teenagers with more colour and more energy, and we would hope that our emigrants come home for Paddy's Day, and not just for Christmas. Our brief is to have a big party - not quite a Mardi Gras, but more like a Paddy Gras."
If any of our expatriates need more reason to come home, then another recently announced music festival might just fire them with a desire to return. The Celtic Flame Music Festival will run for four consecutive weekends in four different cities, ending in Dublin on St. Patrick's Day. Among the Irish artists scheduled to appear are Paul Brady and Altan in Galway, Mary Coughlan band Sharon Shannon in Cork and Bean Kennedy in Limerick. Sweet music to any exile's ears.