{"id":7432,"date":"2014-06-05T13:30:43","date_gmt":"2014-06-05T12:30:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/?p=7432"},"modified":"2014-06-05T13:30:43","modified_gmt":"2014-06-05T12:30:43","slug":"buskfest-brings-talented-troubadours-to-banbridge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/2014\/06\/buskfest-brings-talented-troubadours-to-banbridge\/","title":{"rendered":"BUSKFEST BRINGS TALENTED TROUBADOURS TO BANBRIDGE"},"content":{"rendered":"

The buzz is building for BuskFest 2014, as Ireland\u2019s fastest-growing busking festival returns to the streets of Banbridge on 21st<\/sup> June.<\/h1>\n

\"\"<\/a>Music fans will be in for a treat, when over 80 performers take to the town centre between 1.00pm and 4.30pm.\u00a0 The festival is a full-on family affair, with something for all ages, including free face-painting at the Old Town Hall for little ones.<\/p>\n

The fun then continues in Solitude Park from 4.30pm, as Allison McGrath and Soulantics take to the stage to get the crowd dancing, before the Awards Ceremony, hosted by BBC Radio Ulster\u2019s Ralph McLean.\u00a0 The winners of each of the six categories will then perform on stage.<\/p>\n

The Solitude audience can expect some serious serenading, if last year\u2019s success stories are anything to go by.\u00a0 Juram Gavero (Best Individual 2013) has recently made it through the audition stage of this year\u2019s X Factor, while Sarah Toner (Best Junior 2013) supported Jordan O\u2019Keefe on some of his local tour dates.\u00a0 \u2018The Left Backs\u2019, who performed last year, were named \u2018Best Band\u2019 at the Irish Youth Music Awards in April, and Worn Down Shoes (Overall Winners 2013), Cup O\u2019 Joe (Best Band 2013) and The Molly Maguires (The Outlet Spirit of Buskfest Winners 2013) are now household names to local music fans, playing regular gigs around Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n

Over 60 different acts have already registered for 2014, with the hope of winning a share of the generous \u00a33,000 \u2018hat\u2019.<\/p>\n

Performers will compete in a number of categories including Overall Winner, Best Individual, Best Band, Best Performance, Best Junior Performer and the \u2018Spirit of BuskFest\u2019 prize, sponsored by The Outlet.<\/p>\n

Once again, this year, the Overall Winner will be given the opportunity to perform at the prestigious Sunflowerfest, held at Tubby\u2019s Farm, Hillsborough from 22-25 August 2014.<\/p>\n

For some buskers, it\u2019s not all about the competition. BuskFest institution Geordie Rice returns to his pitch for the 10th<\/sup> year running.\u00a0 During the last decade, the flautist has raised almost \u00a310,000 for LIFT building projects for special needs schools and orphanages in Africa.\u00a0 Geordie said \u2018If you\u2019re new to BuskFest you\u2019ll be amazed at the variety of music on the day, and it\u2019s great to see so many younger performers having the confidence to get out there and have a go.\u00a0 There is great buzz in Banbridge on BuskFest day.\u00a0 The craic is fantastic. I have so many lovely memories of the generosity of the audience \u2013 it all adds up!\u00a0 I can\u2019t wait to get back to BuskFest.\u2019\u00a0 This year, Geordie will be busking to raise funds for his next trip to Africa, departing on 4th<\/sup> July.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not too late to get on board for BuskFest. Performers can still register between 9.30am and 11.30am on Saturday 21st June at the Old Town Hall, Scarva Street, Banbridge, or online at www.buskfest.com<\/a>. Further details about the festival, rules of the competition and how to register are all available on the official website at www.buskfest.com<\/a> and on the Facebook page at www.facebook.com\/buskfest<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The buzz is building for BuskFest 2014, as Ireland\u2019s fastest-growing busking festival returns to the streets of Banbridge on 21st June. Music fans will be in for a treat, when over 80 performers take to the town centre between 1.00pm and 4.30pm.\u00a0 The festival is a full-on family affair, with something for all ages, including … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7432"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7432"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7434,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7432\/revisions\/7434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}