The 19th Annual International Roe Valley Folk Festival, will take place this year, from the 26th to 31st October 2016.
This event has grown now to become one of the biggest occasions in the North West area. Again, it promises to be a great celebration of the Cross-Cultural Folk Song, Music, Dance & Verse. Over the weekend, this will all be demonstrated by an array of performances and entertainment from Scotland, England, Europe and other parts of Ireland.
The Festival will be launched on Wednesday 26th October at 8.00pm in the Keady Clachan Cottage, Limavady. This is a venue where many similar events take place, various dignitaries will be in attendance so refreshments will be served and entertainment provided. The Roola Book Group from Cork, along with various local artists will provide much enjoyment.
Over the weekend of 28th, 29th & 30th October, there will be an abundance of folk performances, concerts, session and workshops. Performances, such as Life of Reilly (Scotland), Haggerdash (Scotland & England), Roola Boola (Cork) will all provide gigs. They will be joined by local acts: – The Jaywalkers, Sharon Nixon, The Simple Truth, The Two of Us and Gavin Corey. All of these performances will conduct folk session with the Mitchells (Loup) and Craic (Strabane).
There will be dancing displays from the Shelley Ann Campbell School of Highland Dance, and the Allen School of Irish Dance. These will perform together at 2.00pm on Saturday afternoon, outside the Roe Valley Arts & Cultural Centre, Limavady. (Weather permitting, otherwise the performance will be inside the centre).
The weekend will be completed, as always at Browns in Drumsurn on Monday night 31st October. This is a folk session for those with stamina, to keep going for one more night.
All of this would not be possible without the support of Causeway Coast & Glens Borough Council, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and some other local businesses. All details are contained within the festival brochure, various local newspapers and local radio programmes.
Some of this might even be done in fancy dress as it just happens to be Halloween as well, come and enjoy…………………