Waterford to stage tall ships festival

WATERFORD CITY is set to host Ireland’s biggest summer festival in 2011 with Sharon Shannon, The Waterboys and O Emperor confirmed as shoreside entertainment during the Tall Ships Race.

The race, which first visited Waterford in 2005, returns this year with at least 70 tall ships set to sail up the estuary and moor in the city centre from June 30th to July 3rd.

More than half a million people, some 250,000 of them from outside the southeast, are expected to visit Waterford for the international event, generating an estimated €30 million in business.

Announcing a multi-million-euro jetty capable of accommodating the tall ships and cruise vessels in Waterford, Fáilte Ireland chairman Redmond O’Donoghue compared the event with the Volvo Ocean Race visits to Galway.

Noting the efforts to broaden the visit into a fully-fledged festival with themes related to entertainment and food, he said he believed the Tall Ships Race would be “a talking point for many years to come”.

The Waterboys will perform on Friday July 1st, as will O Emperor. Sharon Shannon, with guests Damien Dempsey and Dessie O’Halloran, will take the stage on Saturday July 2nd. Magician Keith Barry is the star attraction at the launch event on June 30th.

Events will include street acts, comedy, nightly fireworks displays and an artisan food village.

Chairman of the festival Des Whelan said anticipation and expectation in Waterford are huge with high-profile acts secured for the weekend. “We still have one more act to announce and are in the final stages of negotiations with a renowned international star. Our goal is to offer as broad an appeal as possible over the festival, putting on an event that really offers something for everyone,” he said.

Fáilte Ireland has also made a significant contribution to the event with funding and marketing support and a festival office has opened in the former tourism offices on the quays.

Mr O’Donoghue drew attention to the new M9 motorway linking Dublin and Waterford and said visitors who were “conscious of value and cost” would find lots of attractions laid on free. The website waterfordtallshipsrace.ie has also been set up.