It's festival time in Cork. A Sense of Cork, running from June 23rd to July 1st, and Cork-in-Gear, running from July 10th to 13th, are now on the horizon.
A Sense of Cork is in its second year, or as the press release says, "its infancy", and is fundamentally an arts event. This year's highlights include readings by John Montague (holder of the Ireland Chair of Poetry), Alice Taylor, Brendan Kennelly, Evelyn Conlon and Conal Creedon.
Interesting events include a tribute to Bryan McMahon by the Kilmeen Drama Group, and a symposium on the poetry of Sean O Riordain. There are lunchtime concerts by John Gibson, and Portishead play as part of the Heineken Weekender.
Cork-in-Gear is being run to coincide with the coming of the Tour de France to the area. Its colour brochure details many arts events. Concerts will include performances by Sinead Lohan and Frances Black, and a "Year of the French" parade with huge props built by the National Sculpture Factory and FAS.
A Teddy Bears' Picnic in Fitzgerald Park is also promised, the bears to be entertained by Cork Corporation Choir.
Monica Spencer of Cork-in-Gear is on the Sense of Cork board, and says a merger was looked at, but that Sense of Cork would have been swamped by the tour, and its link with St John's Eve would have been lost. It still seems like too much of a good thing in too short a space of time, however.