Strains of Handel's Water Music wafting over the lake from a Sunday evening concert on Lough Derg. Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings filling the loftiest reaches of Killaloe's St Flannan's Cathedral. The strings of the Irish Chamber Orchestra weaving back and forth for four magical days in July.
To be in Killaloe, Co Clare, from July 9th to 12th should be very heaven.
It's just as well all this balm is on the horizon because in the town the daily spectacle of constant traffic snarl-ups on the 18thcentury bridge that connects Killaloe to neighbouring Ballina in Co Tipperary has left locals feeling frustrated and exasperated.
The fiery opinions of the citizens of Killaloe on the issue are at variance with the tranquil atmosphere of what is probably one of Ireland's best-known "Heritage Towns".
When the 13-arch bridge was built in the early 18th century to accommodate the then growing traffic between Clare and Tipperary, heavy traffic consisted of horse and cart.
Today, the bridge, which measures 4.8 metres in width in places (Dublin's Ha'penny Bridge is 3.8 metres wide) is a main gateway to the west. It's the main crossing point on the River Shannon between the Co Galway town of Portumna and Limerick city.
According to John Lefroy, chairman of the Killaloe Heritage Society, the bridge is now unable to cope with growing commercial traffic.
"Because the bridge is too narrow, an articulated truck and a car cannot get past each other. You have the situation of lines of traffic waiting at either end to allow each other pass, often resulting in traffic chaos in Killaloe."
A member of Clare County Council for Killaloe, Michael Begley, says the inability of the bridge to cope with traffic has made it a scene of "road rage" episodes.
"There have been some incidents where drivers have refused to reverse to allow other vehicles pass and disputes have followed." The bridge is not only a menace for drivers, it is a more serious threat to pedestrians. They compete with the trucks and cars for road space - there are no footpaths on the bridge.
A Killaloe Community Council member, Peter Dension-Edson, says: "The risk is: the driver of one of those great big trucks is too busy concentrating on getting his truck around the bridge: he doesn't see the small child coming out of the library. It hasn't happened yet but it's in the back of everybody's mind."
And the bridge has also fallen into disrepair, its sides continually scarred by articulated trucks, says to Mr Lefroy.
"It is looking quite forlorn . . . trees and weeds growing out of it and the basic structure needing an overhaul. It remains very attractive and has a charm of its own." It's just that he doubts if the bridge is capable of bearing the current volume of traffic for much longer.
Local businessman John Grimes points out that the neglect of the bridge can be attributed to responsibility for it being divided equally between two local authorities, Clare County Council and Tipperary North Riding County Council.
"It's a crazy situation, where you would have one half resurfaced by one council and the other half cleared of weeds by the other."
In the short term, Cllr Begley proposes a set of traffic lights at each end to regulate the movement of traffic, but John Grimes dismisses this on the grounds that it will result in even longer traffic jams in Killaloe.
Sean Kierse, who has written extensively on the bridge, says the only option is to build a new bridge downriver and reserve the current bridge for pedestrians. But the county engineer of Tipperary North Riding, Tom Haugh, rules this out, saying the provision of a new bridge further downriver, diverting traffic from Killaloe, is out of the question due to the cost.
The lack of funding from central government to improve the situation is nothing new to the people of east Clare and north Tipperary.
The Clare Journal reported on April 21st, 1823, that after two years of government refusal to provide funding to replace the bridge's collapsed central arch, thereby preventing communication between Co Clare and Co Tipperary, locals bought timber decking to allow people travel from Killaloe to Ballina once more, but charged tolls for the crossing.
Sean Kierse says: "There was a proposal to build a bridge 30 years ago at Clarisford which never got off the ground, and we will be ruing the fact in another 30 years that in 1998 a new bridge was not considered."
But the two local authorities are now working on a plan to alleviate the traffic problem by extending the bridge by one metre, according to Tom Haugh.
Following a recommendation by Michael Punch and Partners, consultant engineers in September 1996 to widen the bridge, Clare County Council has received a grant of £350,000 from the Department of the Environment to carry out a site investigation. Clare county engineer Tom Carey says he expects the report on the investigation to be presented to the council before the end of the year to advance the planning on widening the bridge.
"We are very conscious of the importance of the bridge and whatever we do will be in the same idiom as the current bridge. Extending it will involve the dismantling and reconstruction of one of the parapets, which will maintain the architectural style and aesthetic appeal of the bridge."
Others have their doubts. Prof Emer Colleran of An Taisce says: "It is a very important bridge and it is very difficult to see how it could be widened by one metre without significant damage being done to it."
Sean Kierse declares: "The proposal is ridiculous. What purpose will it serve? It can be widened as much as they like, but the congestion on the narrow streets will remain and they will create more of a bottleneck than is already there."
The debate on what to do with the bridge will continue and find formal expression in a consultative process on the proposed widening, between the two councils and the people of the twin heritage towns of Killaloe and Ballina.
"Whatever is to be done to solve the traffic situation it must aim at maintaining the charm of Killaloe. It is a heritage town. It should be treated as such," says John Lefroy.