Following a joint-application for funding to the Limerick City and County Council’s Festivals and Events Grant Scheme, the Consular Agency of France in Limerick and the Limerick Civic Trust, who are the co-organisers of Limerick’s new annual Bastille Day Wild Geese Festival, were awarded €10,000 by the Council to turn the 2021 festival’s edition into a three-day event.
The Limerick Bastille Day Wild Geese Festival was launched in July 2019 by the City and County Council and the Consular Agency of France in Limerick as an annual commemoration of the Flight of the Wild Geese and a celebration of the longstanding friendship between France and Ireland. The Limerick Civic Trust and the Consular Agency of France decided to join forces this year to co-organise all future editions. This year’s second edition had to be cancelled and replaced by a symbolic ceremony due to the coronavirus pandemic but the organisers have big plans for the 2021 edition.
Commenting on the successful application for funding, the Honorary Consul of France, Dr Loïc Guyon, said ‘next year’s edition of the Limerick Bastille Day Wild Geese Festival will mark the 330th anniversary of the Flight of the Wild Geese and, with the Limerick Civic Trust and our partners, we are putting together an exciting programme of commemoration, celebration and entertainment which will place Limerick on the map of Ireland’s summer festivals and should attract thousands of local and international visitors to the city’.
Mr Thomas Wallace O’Donnell, Chairperson of the Limerick Civic Trust, added ‘Following the ceremony this year, which was one of the very few events hosted after lockdown, I am much looking forward to an enhanced and developed programme and event in 2021. The support of Limerick City and County Council and the French Honorary Consul is greatly appreciated and we look forward to working with those key partners and others in delivering next year’s festival.’