Festival Planning Going Ahead At Full Speed
The Country Comes To Town committee and all its supporters are working flat out to bring a great family event to Portadown in the third week in September. The highlight is likely to be the Heritage Day on Saturday 17th. September, when all roads through the town will be closed off and the streets will be lined with country-fare exhibitors and traders. There will also be dozens of vintages vehicles: cars, tractors, lorries and farm machinery on show. In addition, the town will resound to a wide variety of music – enough to suit everyone’s taste.
New Festival Base
We’ve moved!! Country Comes To Town has a new location, right in the heart of Portadown at Millennium Court in William Street. This new venue, which contains the Arts Centre for Portadown, is proving to be an excellent venue with extensive facilities and easy access to and from all areas of the town.
Contact Us
Anyone wanting to get in touch with the Festival for any reason should get in touch with Alison at Millennium Court on 02838 350935. Alternatively, the festival secretary, Bryan McLaughlin, can be contacted by email on BryanMcL48@live.co.uk
Programme of Events
This year again, we’re trying to bring to the public all their old favourites. And maybe a few surprise items on the day!! Some of what’s currently still being planned is outlined here:
At present:
A ‘Bonny Baby’ photographic competition and ‘Little Miss’ and ‘Little Mister’ photographic competitions. The search is on right now. Contact Alison at Millennium Court, William Street, on
02838 350935 to get a copy of the rules and a registration form. All photos will be on display for voters in High Street Mall and the winners will be announced on the Festival Saturday (17th September). Prizes are as follows:
‘Bonny Baby’ winner will receive a portrait by Tiny Bells Photography, Lurgan
‘Little Miss’ winner will receive a portrait by Kirsty-Lyn Jameson Photography
‘Little Mister’ winner will receive a portrait by Marie Allen Photography
Wednesday 14th September
Get ready for all the fun and frolics at the Family Dog Show. It’s being held this year in the Millennium Court Markets Centre in William Street and will start at 7.30pm. There’s something for everyone here; so whether your dog’s a Cruft’s Supreme Champion or just the family pet, bring him or her along. So kids, let’s get started on brushing that fur!! And, as an extra bonus this year, the Craigavon Borough Council’s Canine Team will be on-site to provide free micro-chipping. Make sure you check them out. It’s a great way to keep your dog safe.
Thursday 15th September
A Fashion Show entitled ‘Take your mama out tonight’! It’s happening in the Seagoe Hotel and you’ll get all the fashion, provided by local retailers and modelled by the gorgeous Reel Dolz, a little wine and cheese and some ceilidh dancing to finish. Sounds like a wonderful night out – and not just for mamas!
Friday 16th September
On the Friday of the festival week the annual flower show, in the Church Hall, by members of Edenderry Presbyterian Church, is a must for anyone with an interest in flowers and flower arranging.
And also on Friday evening, there’s another ‘must’ for the kids. The annual Teddy Bears’ Picnic, courtesy of Tesco, is happening at the Meadows at around 5.30pm. Kids of all ages are invited – but they must all be accompanied by a well-loved teddy bear.
Saturday 17th September – the big heritage day
Wonderful big, noisy, exciting steam engines in the centre of the town on the final festival Saturday. The sights and sounds and smells of times past. Don’t forget to bring your camera!
Boat trips on the Bann, in The Council’s ‘Master McGrath’, leaving from Shillington’s Quay to give you a view of Portadown and its surroundings that many people will never have seen before.
A large exhibition of wonderful, locally-produced foods from specialist providers throughout the area. Meat, vegetables, fruit, jams and even locally-produced chocolate on sale.
The most significant impact on Portadown on Heritage Saturday will be the 250+ vintage vehicles which will have travelled from all over N Ireland and beyond. Cars, motor-cycles, lorries, tractors and vintage farm machinery – perhaps even a few old UTA buses. Anyone still remember them? With their cream and two-tone green livery and the passenger door at the back?
Let’s not forget the static steam engine enthusiasts. They’ll be along to demonstrate the skills of a bygone age. With their miniature steam engines, they illustrate the energy that was used at the turn of the century to make Portadown a powerhouse of industrial production.
A chance to meet the brave lads and lasses from the Lough Neagh Rescue Service and to see the sophisticated search facilities they have at their disposal. Keeping us all safe in and around Lough Neagh.
Don’t miss the small animals’ exhibits along the main street – these are another ‘must’ for your kids. Miniature horses and ponies, chickens, pygmy goats, llamas and even a giant rabbit! All the fun of the farm, right in the heart of the town.
There’s loads of country music too. You can bop to The Senators on St Mark’s Plaza. And on stage with the band throughout the day are guest stars such as Boxcar Brian, Ritchie Rhino and Seamus Delaney.
Six – yes, six! Six very elegant Edwardian pedallists – charming ladies, impeccably dressed in the costumes of the period, and with the baskets of their bicycles filled with flowers. Listen out for them ringing their bells – very definitely a wonderful show of ‘pedals and petals’!
They’re famous everywhere, the wonderful Armagh Rhymers – walking the streets of Portadown and doing all those things that only they can do so well. Check out their outrageous outfits – and don’t miss their music and their rhyming.
Saturday in the Park
The People’s Park is Portadown’s hidden gem – only yards from the town centre and providing acres and acres of wonderful green space. It’s in the Park on Heritage Saturday that we’ll be hosting a variety of equestrian activities. Make your way there by passing down Woodhouse Street or down through the Magowan West car park. Walk through the underpass, past the railway station, then turn right and you’re there!
The All-Ireland final of the Connemara Foal Championship will be taking place in the People’s Park. This event is the culmination of a whole series of competitions held all over Ireland during 2010 and the first half of 2011. Come along and see the splendour and beauty of this very special breed. Check out the N Ireland Connemara Pony Breeders Association website at www.nicpba.co.uk
The Park will also be the venue for some very stylish driving by the N Ireland Branch of the British Driving Society. Make sure you get along to this to see all the style and elegance of a by-gone age with some beautifully trained horses and incredibly well presented carriages of all sorts. And, in many cases, the drivers’ clothing would have been all the fashion before some of us were born – a very atmospheric series of events in these wonderful green surroundings.
The park also plays host to The Shetland and Riding Association who will, once again, be here with their beautiful little ponies.
Check out the various country themes to be seen in many of the windows of the town’s retail premises. They’re competing in the Country Comes To Town ‘Best Dressed’ window competition. Don’t be afraid to offer your own opinion to any of the CCTT committee.
There will be loads more to see and do during Country Comes To Town. We’re still confirming events and activities to make 2011’s Country Comes To Town even bigger and better than ever. Just keep an eye on this space over the next couple of weeks.
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