Every summer Ireland comes alive with music, dancing, parades, agricultural shows, exhibitions and much more during the many festivals that are put on for tourists and locals alike. Nearly every city, town and village take part in this summer madness which creates some magical memories for the long winter nights. Sadly this won’t be the case this year with the long reaching effects of Covid 19.
One of the local festivals that I and the Longford Writers Group have attended over the last few years is the Cruthú Arts Festival. This festival involves all age groups, many art forms and is good for local expression of the many talented artists in the area. It also boosts the local economy and brings tourists to the town.
Cruthú Arts Festival gave out this following statement in March…
‘It is with a heavy heart that we have decided due to the current pandemic situation and in the interest of Health & Safety not to proceed with this year’s Cruthú Arts Festival 2020 in Longford.
We explored all avenues, from date changes, to running staggered events and so on, but we were unable to come up with a viable alternative that would satisfy local and national guidelines.
We do have a couple of things planned for later in the year, and we will keep you updated on that.’
Here are some of my memories of the Cruthú Arts Festival and I look forward to taking part again in 2021.
In 2014 I took part in this….Dream Catcher Workshop with Aisling Children’s Art Festival followed by Book Reading by local author Eileen Moynihan, Saturday 2nd August from 2pm, Earl Street.
This event is suited to children aged 4 to 10 years. It is a drop in workshop, younger children will need to be accompanied by an adult if workshop is very busy as they may require help.
The Aisling Children’s Arts Festival was founded in 1998 and its aim was to provide an annual multi disciplinary week long arts festival totally dedicated to children and young people in County Longford. The ethos of the festival is to nurture and develop an artistic appreciation among young people by introducing them to a wide range of arts disciplines such as drama, music, dance and the visual arts through the medium of workshops and performances. The festival is still run by a committee of local volunteers and is dependent on funding from grant agencies and local businesses.
Eileen Moynihan Author 
Looks like it was great fun. Hope you can go next year. Pat
I certainly hope so, Patricia.