International Family Fun Day in Longford's Connolly Barracks

The long-awaited International Family Day event will be held in Longford this Saturday.

The event is a multi-cultural day for all the family to participate in fun activities and enjoy the multi-cultural entertainment of music, dance, arts and crafts and food.

Hosted by the Longford Africans Network in collaboration with Midlands Polish Community and Longford Romanians Network, the event is supported by the National Lottery Funds and Creative Ireland Longford’s Cruinniú na nÓg programme.

The International Family Day event will be held on Saturday, June 11 at the Connolly Barracks from 12 noon until 5pm. This is a free event open to all citizens.

There will be entertainment by local artists and dancers as well as performances from acts of diverse cultural backgrounds such as performers Variable, Gennyman, Evelyn & Kelvin, Chocolate Barbies, Zipster, Polish dance group, and DJ Paul Play.

There will also be a craft market and an artisan food market.

As part of International Family Day, Backstage Youth Theatre will present their new show Little Ghosts at 3.15pm. The show devised by members of BYT and directed by Hannah Carleton, takes place in a specially constructed stage and tent in Connolly Barracks orchard garden.

Also, A children's book launch and reading by local author Shelley Corcoran and Angelika Florkiewicz will take place at 2pm, with spot prizes of a copy of the book for two lucky children. This event is also supported by Creative Ireland Longford.

Commenting, Cllr Uruemu Adejinmi, Chairperson of Longford Africans Network, said, “The International Family Fun Day is the first of its kind with collaboration from diverse community groups.

“We hope this event will increase cultural awareness and help create a more engaged and inclusive community.”

She added, “We acknowledge the contribution of the Communities Integration Fund and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth as well as Creative Ireland, and Longford County Council, towards the event.”