Weekend of fun activities and cultural events at Dunshaughlin Harvest Festival

The Dunshaughlin harvest is ready to go for this weekend with 'The Gathering' parade and Electric Lemon to get things later tonight.

It starts later tonight at 6:30pm with ‘The Gathering’, a parade organised by the arts team. A ten feet long and four feet high boar, the biggest wild boar in Ireland, will be shown off as the parades marches through the town. Come and see it at the parade, which starts at the Community College and will make its way through the main street, turning right opposite the courthouse, and finishing up in the park.

The parade will be led by the Dublin Fire Brigade Pipe Band with local clubs, schools and societies following close behind. There will also be lots of music and dancing, showcasing some of the activities that can be enjoyed throughout the year by those living in Dunshaughlin and surrounding areas.

Following the parade the hugely successful local band, Electric Lemon will present a free concert in the park, under the cover of the Big Top tent at 7.30pm.

The vendors are coming back once more including the ten year old Gaelscoil na Rithe pupil Willow Rose Gaffney who will be selling home baked delights of muffins, tray bakes and cupcakes.

New events this year include a model railway exhibition in St. Patrick’s Hall, the National Reptile Zoo, a tightwire circus show and the new inflatazone, featuring laser tag, bungee basketball, kick and stick darts, and the gladiator challenge, all in the park.

Two full days of events and activities take place on Saturday and Sunday starting at 10am.

The street markets include a range of regular stalls which will include international cuisine such as Musahi which will provide the Japanese experience and Texas BBQ and AllBarChicken for the American taste of good food.

All of the proceeds from the Dunshaughlin Harvest Festival’s RE-TURN scheme will again be donated to Dunshaughlin Tidy Towns, to help them keep the village beautiful throughout the year so keep an eye out for the orange RE-TURN bins.

The kids are very well catered for, with a bouncy zone, inflata-zone, petting farm, science, puppet and magic shows, fairground rides, face-painting and many other fun activities. Harvest Festival wristbands which are €15 per day or €25 for both days give access to the fairground rides, bouncy zone, and inflatazone. Sensory friendly fairground rides and bounce zone are from 11-12pm each day and the festival train is free of charge this year.

Entertainment on the Big Top stage during Saturday and Sunday will be a mixture of talent by local bands including Shooting Stars Choir, the Voculeles, Trad Cheoil Dun Seachnaill, and the Navan Silver Band.

Lastly, Dunshaughlin Dance will give a high energy performance on Sunday, which will showcase their award winning routines from the International Dance Games in Spain, where they brought home major titles for Ireland earlier this year.

For the full programme of events, go to here or see the printed programme available at SuperValu, Dunshaughlin checkouts.