Not only is this Friday our national holiday, St Patrick’s Day, but this weekend also marks the start of a year-long celebration of Westport’s 250th birthday.
Exactly 250 years ago – this week – in 1767, an ad was placed in Faulkner’s Dublin Journal by the 2nd Earl of Altamont Peter Browne Kelly of Westport House advertising for tradesmen to build a new town as designed by architect William Leeson. As a result, this is considered the foundation year of Westport Town.
The #Westport250 Launch Celebrations take place on St. Patrick’s weekend – the same date as the advert – and features:
- Thursday, 16th – ‘Patrick’ the hit theatre show in Westport Town Hall
- St. Patrick’s Day, Friday, 17th – A full day’s festivities – open-air traditional session at 1.00pm followed by the rejuvenated Westport250 themed parade culminating in open-air céilí & street musicians! This year’s St Patrick’s Day parade promises to be fantastic! We are certainly making a big effort ourselves at Westport House. Watch out for a cast of characters from Westport House accompanying our #Westport250-themed float!
- Saturday, 18th – At noon, the Piper’s Trail & animated street theatre Westport Story will take off from the Octagon. Later on, the Harbour at Westport Quay is the location for Saturday’s festival programme featuring street performers including Arcana’s giant U2 heads and a spectacular fireworks extravaganza at dusk. Westport House has kindly gifted the use of Garvillaun island as the firing site for the fireworks and we hope you enjoy the show.
All #Westport250 launch events are FREE! Please visit the Westport250 Facebook page for more deta
ils.
Hopefully at some point over the weekend, we will have the opportunity to welcome you to Westport House. We are open daily from 10am to 4pm and be sure to take 5% off your admission to Westport House when you book your tickets online.
In celebration of St Patrick’s week, we are offering a brilliant deal – take €17 off when you buy a family membership to Westport House & Pirate Adventure Park before March 20th (or up until midnight on the 19th). Click here to learn all about membership of Westport House and if you’d like to avail of the deal, simply order it through our online store and enter patrick2017 when you’re asked for your discount code.
**Update on March 15th: The Fireworks show has been postponed to #MayoDay on April 29th as a mark of respect to our colleagues in the Irish Coastguard Services and this week’s tragedy. All other activities will go ahead as planned.**