Athlone parade this Friday evening will bring mythical Ireland to life
For many local people, memories of parades and festivals in Athlone will no doubt conjure images of Tonnta puppets making their way through the streets of the town, often accompanied by spectacular fire-breathing performances.
And while those of us of a certain vintage may remember Podge and Rodge or puppets of the Irish politicians of the day, this week these puppets will capture the imaginations and hearts of a whole new generation as they have recently been reimagined and will grace the streets of Athlone for this week's Mythical Ireland street parade.
Part of this August Bank Holiday Weekend's River Festival and Féile na Sionainne, the Mythical Ireland parade will pass through the streets of Athlone from 7.30pm this Friday, and is sure to delight young and old, with many characters from Irish myths and legends set to be brought to life.
Creative Director of Athlone River Festival Delores Crerar, who is also Project Manager at Athlone Family Resource Centre, explained: "The River Festival ran last year and we did a small scale puppet session to open the event. A couple of days after that we got a phone call to say the Tonnta puppets were in storage and did we want them? We didn't have the storage, but we took them anyway!"
Delores said she didn't want to use the puppets without getting the permission of Sandy Hughes of Tonnta, who would have created them originally.
"She was so happy that a new generation would see them," said Delores. "That was the start of a winter-long project."
Not only was Sandy happy to see the puppets being brought back, she has also been involved in giving them a new lease of life.
"We have eight puppets that we have completely redone, we have taken them and given them new characters," said Delores.
Explaining the background behind the Mythical Ireland theme, she said: "We chose Mythical Ireland to keep our myths and legends alive. Féile na Sionainne is rooted in our traditional music and we wanted to link in with that.
"We've chosen a range of characters, from old legends to more modern ones. We have an Caileach Beara from the Cork peninsula representing Munster, An Morrigan the battle queen of Connacht, the goddess Macha representing Ulster, who is joined by Rhiannon, and Sionann for Leinster.
"We have a goddess for each province and they are joined by Lugh, Balor of the Evil Eye, fairy kings and the Green Man from the forest."
There will also be displays of fire breathing during the parade and members from 14 community groups will be taking part.
"We have had 14 community groups working with us for the last six months on this," said Delores.
"Aoife Doolan is our Community Arts and Inclusion Officer, and her role is to work with community groups. She has been overseeing workshops taking place on a weekly basis since January. We have linked in with 150 people over the past six months, aged from five to 75. It has been a really wide, intergenerational, multicultural project."
The groups involved are Gateway Youth Project, St Peter's After School, St Paul's After School, Na Fianna Martial Arts, Southern Gaels Hurlers, Ukraine Dance Group, Longford/Westmeath Children and Young People Athlone Forum, Athlone FRC Wellbeing Group, Athlone FRC Adult Creative Hub Members, Athlone FRC Youth Creative Hub Members, Wild Fire Firebreathers, Athlone Community Development Association, Athlone Castle and Boyne Valley Vikings.
As well as all those involved from community groups, the puppet creators are Sandy Hughes, Delores Crerar, Aoife Doolan, Patsy Preston, Helen Tooke, Robbie McManus and Dawn McManus, while the costume makers for the project are Jackie O'Neill, Breegen Hegarty, Catherine Walsh and Nadia Flanagan.
Friday’s parade starts at 7.30pm from the Fairgreen, before making its way along Church Street, over the town bridge, around by Sean's Bar and up through Connaught Street, before turning down Magazine Road and finishing at the old Hammond Lane site.