Lá Fhéile Pádraig 2011 – St. Patrick’s Day in Galway 2011

The Claregalway Hotel is ideally located just 6 miles from Eyre Square, in the heart of the thriving Village of Claregalway, and just 3km from the new Galway to Dublin motorway exit. As lovers of all things Irish, the team at The Claregalway Hotel are counting down the days until the St Patrick’s Festival takes over Galway once more. This Family friendly Hotel is inviting guests to come and revel in all that St Patrick’s Day in Galway has to offer.

Every year St Patrick’s Day invites the Irish and Irish at heart from every corner of the world, to join together and celebrate our country’s Patron saint, the man who brought Christianity to Ireland. The catholic holiday is celebrated internationally but has gradually become more of a secular celebration of Ireland’s culture. This year marks the 108^th anniversary of the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Galway. The ‘World of Wonder’ parade takes place at 12.30 pm on the 17^th of March and is set to mark the grand finale in a series of St Patrick’s Festival events that will kick off on the 12^th of March.

Every year the streets of this medieval city are lined with up to 50,000 spectators, all eager to immerse themselves in the electric atmosphere that is inseparable with St. Patrick’s Day in Galway. The streets of Galway come alive and dance to the unique beat of the street entertainers, music concerts, theatre performances and art installations that line the cobbled stone lanes of the west’s favourite city. The parade route starts in Domnic Street and journeys on a 1.5mile trek through the heart of Galway where it comes to an explosive end in Eyre Square.  For a map of the parade route just click on the link

http://stpatricksgalway.com/the-parade-route.html

The events that unfolded during St. Patrick’s Festival last year were nothing short of breathtaking. Last years flash mob on Shop Street proved a huge success with over 150 people partaking in one of the biggest flash mobs Galway has witnessed.  Watch the bird’s eye view of this amazing rendition of ‘Dancing in the moonlight’ as it unfolds amidst the unsuspecting crowd on Galway’s main street. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HsaO7v9Vz0

2010 also bore witness to the incredibly popular video mapping on the Spanish Arch. ‘By the light of the moon’ is an exhibition of light sound and art that was projected onto the buildings in the Spanish Arch. The aim of the project was to highlight the natural beauty of the area and bring it back to life. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xuf3QDGNzc

This year, the organisers of the St Patrick’s Festival have promised to make 2011 an even bigger success and where better than The Claregalway Hotel to soak up the atmosphere. Come and relax in our luxury Hotel & Leisure Club and let us look after you. We play live music every weekend and show live sports in our Sports bar. For a list of acts playing over the St. Patrick’s Week click here.