A truly spectacular street celebration with marching bands, magnificent floats, power-packed motorcycles, favourite Disney characters, cheerleaders, dancers and so much more will bring Killarney town centre to life on this Friday night as the town celebrates its centuries old friendship with the people of America.
Earlier on the day, at 5.00pm, an 18-strong visiting choir from the Church of St Alphonsus and St Patrick, in the Archdiocese of Chicago, will perform on the steps of St Mary’s Church of Ireland while, throughout the afternoon, there will be free fun activities for children on the streets of Killarney, including face painting, balloon art and cartoon characters joined by the famous man on stilts.
The distinctive beat of the drum will sound on College Square with a family friendly interactive drum experience that evening with a bumper street celebration scheduled to get underway at 7.00pm with a spectacular street show for what promises to be a wonderful eve of Ring of Kerry Cycle party as Killarney welcomes thousands of charity champions to town.
And to end the night on a high note, favourite local trad-rock band The Rising, will perform on the Main Street stage to get everybody dancing and singing along and that will be the perfect warm-up for the big Nathan Carter Summer Spectacular concert – with special guests – at the Gleneagle INEC Arena.
With the 100-year celebration of the opening of Killarney National Park – gifted to Killarney by the Bourn-Vincent and McShain families – scheduled for 2032, Killarney Chamber of Tourism and Commerce initiated a programme in 2023 to acknowledge that landmark occasion and to celebrate past and present links and this summertime celebration will certainly achieve that.
At 5.00pm on Friday the life and times of the great John McShain will be told in word, poetry, music and song.
The free admission top class production, scripted by schoolteacher Noel P O’Sullivan and produced and narrated by performing arts school professional Fiona Crowley, will chart the life and times of the McShain family, their time in Killarney and their incredible legacy in the town.
“Killarney will always be extremely grateful to the McShain family, not only for the gift of Killarney House and Gardens but for the donation of Inisfallen Island, Ross Castle and 8,000 acres of parkland, mountains and lake, which John and Mary McShain presented to the town,” Noel P said.
“The old saying ’History will tell you what happened but a song will tell you how it felt’ captures the essence of this production, which will bring the McShain story to life through a moving and powerful synergy of the arts,” he added.
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