Big Day Out at St. Patrick’s weekend

The theme for this year’s St.Patrick’s Day festival is HOME; the exploration of my home, your home, our home. The festival will run from the 15th to the 19th of March.

The festival was launched on the 13th of February by the Lord Mayor of Dublin Mícheál MacDonncha. He said, “It is a great honour for me to launch the 2018 national St. Patrick’s Festival programme…I invite Dubliners and people from across the country to enjoy the events on offer, and for those who will be visiting from overseas I extend a céad míle fáilte. You are sure to have a fantastic time at this year’s festival and leave with lasting memories.”

On Sunday the 18th of March the Big Day Out event will be held at Merrion Square. The area will be taken over by a street carnival featuring theatre, music, aerial performers and workshops for all to enjoy and discover. ‘Making Millions’ written by Erika McGann, Dublin UNESCO City of Literature’s Citywide read, will be brought to life within a Georgian house featuring shadow puppetry and torchlight readings.

Science foundation Ireland will host a Science Zone on the day which will hold a range of workshops for budding scientists to take part in, the workshops can be pre-booked on the day. Science Zone will also be running science shows, maths puzzles, a science fair and a chance to see the physics buskers carry out physics activities along the street, the event has something for the whole family.

Cathy Foley from Science foundation Ireland said, “We’ve been doing [the St. Patrick’s Festival] for nine or 10 years in different guises…the reason why Science Foundation Ireland is involved is because it provides an opportunity for us to bring science, technology engineering and maths to people outside of a formal education system. It’s a fun family friendly day out… it’s an opportunity for them to engage in something that they might not otherwise engage in.”

Cathy recalls her most memorable feature from their early involvement with the festival, “We used to have a smoothie bike, where people could come up and cycle the bike and the energy from the bike would power the smoothie machine… it was a fun thing that people could get involved in, that’s the thing about Science Zone there’s lots to participate in for all ages.”

The Big Day Out will run from 12pm – 6pm and is a free event to be enjoyed by the whole family.