Donegal Bay & Blue Stacks Festival Carnival Weekend

Hot on the heels of last weekend’s opening programme, which saw large and appreciative audiences enjoy festival events in Ballyshannon, Bundoran, Glencolmcille, Ballybofey and Donegal Town, the Donegal Bay and Blue Stacks Festival continues this weekend and into next with a packed programme of choral, popular and traditional music, carnival spectacle and street entertainment, comedy, film, theatre and visual art.


Without Willow and Sarah E. Cullen at Ghostlight
Tonight, Thursday’s edition of the Balor Arts Centre’s popular Ghostlight Sessions series hosts two of the North West’s finest singer songwriter acts in Without Willow and Sarah E. Cullen, who will be joined by a host of guest musicians including cellist Laura McFadden, guitarist Rúairí Friel, bass players Rhys McBride and Michael Cullen and drummer Mark McGirr. Without Willow are singer and guitarist Karen Kelly with guitarist extraordinaire Simon McCafferty. They released their splendid debut album, Left Behind, earlier this year to great critical acclaim as well as extensive radio airplay. Sarah E. Cullen’s debut CD, Notes from the Wonderground, was a BBC Radio Ulster Album of the Week in 2020. She is also a member of the Citadels of The Sun ensemble who have performed in Donegal, Derry, Rajasthan, Glasgow (Celtic Connections) and Belfast in recent years.

Donegal Bay Film Festival Continues at Bundoran
Tonight, Thursday is also the second evening of the Donegal Bay Film Festival at Eclipse Cinemas, Bundoran. The festival, now in its second year, offers a selection of short films and documentaries by emerging film makers from across the North and North West of Ireland. This evening’s programme, which commences at 8.00pm and is free of Charge, features works by film festival curator Caroline Harvey ( ‘The Crucible’), Dorothy Duffy ( ‘Morning After’), Clem McInerney (‘Amygdala’), James Doherty (‘Yara’) and Ben Conway and Peter McCarthy (‘Simon’).

Donegal Voices Celebrate Donegal Town 550
This Friday evening, the wonderful Donegal Voices choral ensemble open their series of Festival recitals with a performance at St. Patrick’s Church, Donegal Town, as part of the ongoing Donegal Town 550 celebrations. As well works by Handel (The Messiah, Part III, better known as The Hallelujah Chorus), Rachmaninoff and Listz, the evening will culminate in a stirring performance of the Donegal anthem, O’Donnell Abú, in a new choral arrangement by Donegal Voices Musical Director, Evan McGarrigle, specially for the occasion. Featured soloists will include Deborah Cunningham – Soprano, Fiona Wasson – Mezzo Soprano, Paul Martin - Baritone and Barry Naughton – Tenor. The Donegal Voices ensemble will also perform at St. Patrick’s Church, Ballyshannon on Friday next, October 11. and at St. Connell’s Church, Glenties on the following Friday, October 18. All performances commence at 8pm.

Ballyshannon Carnival Parade 
From 7.30pm, this Saturday night, October 7, over 200 performers will take to the streets of Balyshannon in the Myths and Legends Carnival Parade to celebrate the stories around the town’s maritime heritage and its connection to the O’Donnell’s, Chieftains of Donegal.
Directed by Maura Logue of Dark Daughter Productions and presented by Erne Enterprise Development, the Parade will feature Inishowen Carnival, Killybegs Accordian Band, the Michelle Belle School of Dance, Stars of the West, the Ballytour group, Ballyshannon Street Band, the Stephanie Pawula Samba Band and many more.
A fresh element of this year’s event will be the Carnival Village at the Market Yard Carpark, when a host of street performers from across the North West will entertain the post Parade audience.

Glenties Fiddlers Gathering
The first Friday in October is the traditional opening night of the annual Glenties Fiddlers Gathering, now in its 42nd. year, at the Highlands Hotel, Glenties. Highlighting in particular the Donegal style of fiddle playing, the weekend programme of informal sessions, masterclasses, talks and a big gala concert on the Saturday night, is a must for all lovers of fiddle music.
Reflecting the similarities between the Donegal and the Scottish fiddling styles, the Gathering organisers Cairdeas na bhFidléirí are always keen to invite a Scottish fiddle player to Glenties and this year it’s the turn of Inverness musician and broadcaster Bruce McGregor, founder of the hugely successful Highlands band, Blazin’ Fiddles.
Bruce will give a talk on seminal Inverness musician and collector of Highlands fiddle tunes Captain Simon Fraser (1773-1852) at the Highlands Hotel at 12.30pm on Saturday and he will also be a featured musician at the Glenties Gathering Concert that evening at 9pm along with Aoibhín O’Dea ( Gaoth Dobhair) and Conor Caldwell (Belfast).

The Factory Girls at Leghowney Hall
This night week, Thursday, October 10, sees the much anticipated Opening Night of Donegal Drama Circle’s production of one of Buncrana playwright Frank McGuinness’s most popular plays, The Factory Girls.
Set in a struggling clothing factory in Donegal, matters come to a head when the owner demands a particularly onerous hike in productivity - ‘a dozen shirts in 13 minutes’ - from his long-serving, all female staff. A strike is threatened and when the union rep from Dublin fails to calm the situation, the girls down tools and stage a sit-in in the boss’s office, with mixed results. This Donegal Drama Circle production is directed by Christian Carbin, with a lighting design by Art Kavanagh. The parts of the Factory Girls are played by Suzanne Thomas, Emer McMullin, Ciara Boyle, Rhiannon Kerrigan and Laura McNulty, with Seamus McHugh as the Union Rep and Conor Friery as the factory owner. The Factory Girls runs at Leghowney Hall nightly at 8pm from Thursday, October 10. to Saturday, October 12. Tickets will be available at the Door on each night.

The Festival Continues …
The Donegal Bay and Blue Stacks Festival continues until Sunday October 13. Highlights to come include the Donegal Town 550 Soilse Festival of Light Illuminated Sculpture Trail and Light Parade; the third instalment of Maura Logue’ popular Drumshee series, The Play Actors; a Treehouse Live rock night with TRAMP and Final Girl and a literary conversation with poet Denise Blake and novelists Brian McGilloway and Una Mannion.
The Donegal Bay and Blue Stacks Festival is presented by Donegal County Council Culture Division. It is funded by Donegal County Council, The Arts Council and Creative Ireland.