In the ancient Celtic calendar the first weekend of August was traditionally a time of revelry, music and dance, as our ancestors celebrated the ending of hungry July and the coming of the harvest with a festival in honour of the old pagan god Lugh.
The spirit of the Festival of Lughnasa has survived into modern times, with lots going on throughout the city to entertain those not joining the exodus to Waterford for All Together Now over the upcoming bank holiday weekend.
Events include Literature, Music, Comedy, Cinema and more, many of them free, with highlights including a coastal Lughnasa Lobster Fest in Dun Laoghaire, all the glitz of GAZE, and a sparkling night of culture at MoLI. Check out some of the weekend’s highlights below!
Lobster Festival Dinner At The Purty Kitchen
The Purty Kitchen in Dún Laoghaire is throwing a bijou festival this weekend, celebrating all things lobster, where the star of the show comes from local supplier, Georges Fish Shop.
The convivial restaurant is inviting Lobster lovers to shell-abrate the Irish crustacean with a glass of prosecco on arrival before diving into a lobster feast. The centrepiece is a whole lobster, which comes served alongside a 10 oz sirloin steak, chunky fries, tobacco onions, Jersey Royal potatoes, and a crisp side salad, complemented by two very nice wine pairings.
For those who don’t have an appetite for the full dinner experience, Head Chef, Adam Brack-Sinnott, has also developed a selection of smaller plates to celebrate Irish lobster, with a tasty lobster roll with homemade prawn cocktail crisps and a lobster and crayfish croquette available throughout the weekend.
The Lobster Festival dinner for two is priced at €200 and is available from Friday, August 1st to Sunday, August 3rd.
Bookings via purtykitchen.com
Tequila Town
Meanwhile, back in town, Middle Abbey Street craic merchants Wigwam celebrate the August Bank Holiday with a taste of Mexico, in a buzzy weekend packed with taco specials, dancing and plenty of fun.
There’s also a chance to check in for a full house at Tiki Tequila Bingo and try your hand at their infamous Hot Slice competition.
Oh, and did we mention the two-for-one Margaritas?
Arriba!
Fri Aug 1st – Sun Aug 3rd.
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First Fridays at MoLI
This Friday sees The Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLI) offering lots of food for thought and opening late from 6pm to 9pm as part of their monthly First Friday series. Visitors can look forward to a talk from the always engaging Brendan Dunford, Creative Director of Farming for Nature, while writer and visual artist Sara Baume will be reading a selection from her fascinating body of work.
Speaking about her appearance on Instagram, Baume said, “It’s honestly yonks since I’ve done an event. Am I still able to read aloud? Come and find out! I was thinking of doing a Bob Dylan and muttering my way through some new stuff, but I am also perfectly happy, unlike Bob Dylan, to take requests.”
There’s also a chance to check out the museum’s newest exhibition Happy Ever After! while the doors of the Commons Café will also be open, with a special menu available on the evening. Admission is free.
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GAZE International Film Festival
Have you ever met a flawless queer person? Does that exist? Should it? Just some of the many questions posed by this year’s short film selection screening as part of a packed programme at the GAZE International LGBTQIA Film Festival.
It’s Greg Thorpe’s final year as Festival Director and he’s aiming to go out on a high. Festival goers can look forward to a great weekend of cinematic magic, as his final programme shines a spotlight on intense relationships, messy people, and the sometimes thorny lives of ‘complicated queers and the people who love them’. Check out our interview with him here.
Cafe au Gaze comes to life throughout the weekend, while as an added bonus, as part of a new partnership between the festival and The Port House Pintxo and Aperitivo, all GAZE ticket holders will get 15% off their à la carte menu throughout the festival. GAZE runs until Monday April 4th.
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Dublin Book Festival
Sunday August 3rd sees the grounds of Farmleigh in The Phoenix Park hosting the Dublin Book Festival. Treat yourself to an exciting and engaging day in the city’s largest park, featuring some of Ireland’s best-loved children’s authors and illustrators including Bex Sheridan, Leona Forde, Sadhbh Rosenstock, Tarsila Krüse, and Jolene and Lily Mae Cox.
There will also be plenty of drop-in activities running throughout the day for book worms to get immersed in, including a self-led family scavenger hunt around the grounds, book shop browsing, a children’s book swap stand, and the creative arts and craft station. There’s also a music workshop and performance with Music Generation Dublin City, as well as the ever popular Children’s Books Ireland Clinic.
The event, run in partnership with the Office of Public Works, is free, but booking required. Find out more about what’s been lined up and book your free spot here.
Lughnasa Libertine Market Crawl
Sunday also sees an august edition of the monthly Market Crawl, with a special Lughnasa themed iteration. Organisers of the Libertine Market Crawl promise visitors some great fare courtesy of regular stallholders with the addition of some spanking new stalls this month including one featuring coffee and tarot.
Go shopping, bag a tattoo, get your face painted, see what Terrible Portraits are up to, and check out loads more along the way at a variety of different pubs along the route including Dudleys, Lucky’s, Molly’s Bar, Fourth Corner and Peadar Brown’s.
The free event makes for an ideal day out for family and pets with lots of great Dublin 8 food options available to be enjoyed on the day.
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Music, Comedy and Craic
All that and loads of live performances too… Australian Michael Beach rocks into the city to make his Dublin debut with a solo show at The Flowing Tide on Saturday August 2nd. The city’s rockers can look forward to a raw and unique mix of Neil Young guitar freakouts and quintessentially Antipodean songwriting skills. G’Day Mate!
On the comedy front, Meath man Shane Callaghan hosts his very own solo show at the city’s Craic Den, which we’re told will be ‘irreverent and delightfully escapist’. We can think of worse ways to spend a Bank Holiday Monday.
Words: Martina Murray
