Dingle Marine Festival and Feile an Phráta
The Dingle Peninsula is the place to be this month if you’re looking for a few alternative and eclectic festivals to sample. The area is well known for its stunning scenery but that’s not all they use to entice visitors. You can always count on the region to provide some festivals and events that are a bit out-there and this summer is no different.
Dingle Marine Festival
The first of them is the Dingle Marine Festival or Féile na Mara as it’s known in Irish. This four day festival will encompass a variety of maritime activities including kayaking, rowing, a national angling competition, boat rides, dolphin viewing, trawler touring, interactive displays and much more. The Dingle Peninsula has a long history with fishing and Dingle Harbour is today still dotted with many different trawlers, boats and ships. You’ll be able to learn a lot about the history of fishing and angling in the area and the kids will be able to enjoy the various child-themed displays that will be around the town, most notably reptile day and Kidzone which are being held in Oceanworld Aquarium.
There’ll be absolutely loads to do and see and the town is sure to be buzzing with curious visitors. Dingle town itself is well worth a day-trip from Killarney and Marine Festival would be the perfect time to view the town in all its splendour. The festival kicks off on Thursday the 26th of June and will run until Sunday the 29th of June. You can find more information and at timetable of events on their website which is right here – http://www.dinglemarinefestival.com/.
Feile an Phráta
But that’s not all, because taking place on the same weekend as the Marine Festival and also in the Dingle Peninsula is the Féile An Phráta. Féile An Phráta is obviously the Irish name and in English it literally means the Festival of the Potato. This quirky little festival is an annual occurrence which celebrates the important role the humble spud has played in West Kerry. We Irish have a long and famously complicated relationship with the potato as you probably know so it’s a bit odd we don’t have national iteration of this really. There’ll be loads of educational and musical events celebrating local heritage but central to the festival is the prestigious spud-off which will pit various potato growers from around Kerry against each other to see who is the champion spud grower.
The festival is being held in Baile na Gall or Ballydavid as it’s known in English which is in The Gaeltacht region of the Dingle Peninsula about a 15 minute drive from Dingle town. It kicks off on Friday the 27th and will end on Sunday the 29th of June. It would be well worth swinging by Ballydavid one of those days, maybe after visiting the Marine Festival first, to make a real day out of your trip to Dingle.
