Any weekend is the perfect weekend to come to Galway!

Double Vision with Charlie Adley

Well when’s a good time to come?” “Depends on what you want to do while you’re here.”
“Well, I heard something about a Galway festival. When’s that?”

“Hard to say really. See, you’ve already missed the New Inn Mummers Festival, the Music for Galway Midwinter Festival, the Galway Astronomy Festival, the Subtitle Film Festival and the Galway International Rally.”

“Oh, are there any left?”

“Don’t be silly, that was just January. In February we had Tedfest, that’s the Father Ted festival out on Inis Mór, the Muscailt Arts Festival, Seachtain na Gaeilge Festival and Éigse an Spidéil”

“You what? You’ve gone all gobbledegook, mate.”

“Nah, that’s the local lingo my son. Probably nowhere near right, but I do my best. Anyway, you’ve heard of Paddy’s Day? Well they call Lá Fhéile Pádraig, and seeing as Fhéile’s their word for festival, that counts too.

“Then we had the Galway Food Festival, the Clifden Traditional Music Festival, the Galway Dance Days Festival, followed by one of the major events of the year, the Cúirt International Festival of Literature.”

“Is that the one where you got up and read a load of rude words in public?”

“The very same mate. I was a laugh.”

“Well that’s what I want: a laugh. That’s all really.”

“Well if that’s all you want then come anytime. Honestly mate the best time to come to Galway is when we’re all just getting on with our lives. The city’s perfect for bumping into people, going with the flow until you suddenly realise you’ve missed the evening, half the night and you’re heading into early morning. Right up your street, I imagine.”

“You know me.”

“I do, and you know me, so there’s the other side of Galway too, the county, Connemara and a million places perfect for making sure you bump into nobody at all.”

“So when’s there a gap between festivals?”

“Well now, let’s see. You’ve already missed the Inishbofin Walking Festival, the Leenane Mountain Walking Festival, the Inishbofin Arts Festival, Bealtaine Festival, the International Mayfly Festival, the Connemara Mussel Festival, the Galway County Fleadh, the Galway Early Music Festival, the Galway Theatre Festival and Fleadh na gCuach.”

“Bless you.”

No, wasn’t sneezing. That’s the Cuckoo Fleadh.”

To read Charlie’s column in full, please see this week’s Galway City Tribune.