Magic in store with CAFE arts festival

Galway’s newest arts festival, the CAFE (Carrabane Arts for Everyone) Festival will take place on the June Bank Holiday weekend in the village of Carrabane, five minutes from Loughrea.

The programme features top entertainers Charlie McGettigan, Eleanor Shanley and Maria Doyle Kennedy.  The event which is being organised by the Carrabane Community Development Group, is also focusing on family events.

The festival will centre on three locations – Carrabane’s newly opened Village Theatre, a forest walk which will be transformed by local children into The Enchanted Forest, and Carrabane Hall.

CAFE opens on Friday, May 29, with a children’s parade, and everyone is encouraged to dress up as inhabitants of The Enchanted Forest. Later that evening, Charlie McGettigan and Eleanor Shanley will perform in the Village Theatre. County Galway’s first pub theatre has tiered seating for 80 people, with full sound and lighting.

On Saturday, May 30 at 1pm families will be invited on a magical journey into The Enchanted Forest to hear tall tales from storyteller, Liz Weir. Liz has appeared at festivals such as the Australian National Storytelling Festival and has written more than 20 children’s books.

Later on Saturday, 25 people will head off on a five -mile bicycle tour of three unique locations with a short musical performance in each one. The venues are Bookeen Hall, a 200 year old former Church of Ireland which is now  a home, as well as 600-year-old Dunsandle Castle, now restored, and Callan Harp Studios where Brian Callan makes beautiful Irish harps. Acclaimed harpist Fiana Ni Chonail will perform there.

On Saturday night, singer and actress Maria Doyle Kennedy will be at the Village Theatre.

On Sunday puppeteer Tommy Baker will give a performance in The Enchanted Forest at 2pm. That night, the Show in a Bag theatre company will perform Charolais in The Village Theatre. This won the Bewley’s Little Gem award at the 2014 Dublin Fringe Festival and has been praised by The Irish Times and Sunday Business Post. The newly formed Carrabane Drama Group will also perform the one-act play, Where There’s a Will.

There’s a children’s origami workshop in Carrabane Hall on Monday, with Tom Cuffe, while the closing concert at 6pm on Monday, features talented young, local musicians.

Throughout the weekend, there will be a children’s art exhibition in Carrabane Hall. There will also be a children’s short story competition, with the winner being announced by Liz Weir.

According to one of the festival’s founders, Ciaran Cannon “the arts are for everyone and we have all the ingredients to make this festival a really special one”.

■ More details at www.thecafefestival.ie and on the festival’s Facebook page.