St Patrick’s Festival Returns to Auckland’s Central City

St Patrick’s Festival Returns to Auckland’s Central City

St Patrick’s Festival 2018
Thursday 8th March - Saturday 17th March

New Zealand becomes the first country in the world to mark St Patrick’s Day in 2018, and there’s no better way to mark Ireland’s national day than by joining the St Patrick’s Festival fun!

With St Patrick’s Day falling on a weekend this year, the annual tradition that paints everything green returns to Auckland City with a parade down Ponsonby Road and an afternoon of family fun and fare in Western Park on Saturday, 17 March.

This year’s St Patrick’s Day Parade will be bigger than ever with more than 60 floats and acts sham-rocking their way down Ponsonby Road from 12pm. A bevvy of Irish Musicians and Dancers and County Banners from each of Ireland’s four provinces accompany a huge inflatable leprechaun on their way up the home stretch to join the craic from 11am-6pm in Western Park where food, jugs, and entertainment will flow a plenty.

The Irish Music and Dance Festival takes over this inner-city park with food trucks and a licenced bar setting the scene for a party like no other. The stage will come alive with the spirit of Ireland including music from Sean Kelly and the Celtic Flyers, and celebratory dance performances from the Connolly School of Irish Dance and the Doyle Academy of Irish Dance. The littluns can tear up the park with an exclusive kids-zone boasting a bouncy castle, face painting, and crafts galore.

But before the hooley proper begins, Academy Cinemas will host a special one-night film event on Thursday 8 March. Beginning at 7.30pm for drinks and food, a screening of the 5-star (RTE, Sunday Independent, The Herald) documentary Older Than Ireland will show at 8pm. The personal and touching film follows the lives of 30 Irish centenarians, from their birth at the dawn of Irish independence to their life in modern day Ireland as they pass the milestone birthday.

The St Patrick’s Festival also includes an Irish Fair Day on Sunday 11 March, this promises to be another amazing day of fun, music, dancing and entertainment, with lots of stalls, food and drink.

Keep an eye out for more great events to be announced in the run-up to St Patrick’s Day 2018!

St Patrick’s Festival 2018
Thursday 8 March – Saturday 17 March
www.stpatrick.co.nz
facebook.com/stpatricksfestival

Proudly brought to you by St Patrick’s Festival Trust and
Crackerjack Events.

Irish Film Festival: Screening of Older Than Ireland
Thursday, March 8
7.30pm
Academy Cinemas, 44 Lorne St, Auckland CBD

Irish Fair Day
Sunday, March 11
11am- 5pm
Auckland Irish Society Clubrooms
Rocky Nook Ave, Mt Albert

Hugh Green Group St Patrick’s Parade
Saturday, March 17
12pm-1pm
Ponsonby Road

Hugh Green Group Irish Music and Dance Festival
Food trucks and licenced bar
Saturday, March 17
11am-6pm
Western Park, Ponsonby

ends

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