Fire In The Sky for Gasyard Féile Finale tomorrow
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Over the last week, Derry’s biggest community arts and cultural festival has been celebrating everything that is great about the Bogside, Creggan and Brandywell communities and its people.
Féile 2020 comes to a close on Saturday night.
A spokesperson for the festival said: “For the last number of years, Féile’s finale has been a large scale fire festival and concert. Due to the current health crisis, it remains unsafe to bring large crowds together. We all must continue to take precautions to prevent the spread of coronavirus and to protect the health of our community.
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Hide Ad“So instead, Féile 2020 will come to a close with Fire In The Sky – a multi-site fireworks display that we are asking residents to enjoy from their homes or gardens. We are asking residents to put a light in their windows as a sign of hope and solidarity with those key workers on the frontline and those suffering across the globe from illness/coronavirus.
“At key points across the neighbourhood, people will light a flame in a ceremony broadcast online.
“We also have a packed music schedule online with performances from Damien Dempsey, Touts, Keith Harkin, Declan McLaughlin and many more.”
Féile TV will be streamed via www.facebook.com/gasyardwallfeile, www.twitter.com/feilederry and www.youtube.com/gasyardwallfeileLike many festivals across the globe, much of this year’s Féile has been delivered online via Féile TV which has been broadcasting on Facebook, Youtube and Twitter, 12 hours of content each day covering music, health, sport, arts & crafts, discussions and debates and community issues. Programme highlights this week have included ‘Songs, Tunes & Words’, an online concert series which saw acts including Keith Harkin, Paddy Nash and Connla perform at venues across the city including Museum of Free Derry and Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin and online discussions and debates featuring Fintan O’Toole, James McClean, Professor Luke O’Neill and Professor Siobhan O’Neill.
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Hide AdAt the time of going to press, more than 100,000 people have tuned into the various broadcasts.
However, the festival hasn’t been all online. On street exhibitions have taken place across the Bogside and Creggan while local tour operators have been giving free guided tours of the neighbourhoods.
One of the big successes of the festival has been Ice Cream Carnival, a socially distanced circus show which has been visiting streets and back squares across the Bogside, Creggan, Brandywell and Fountain all week while On Your Doorstep has saw musicians deliver socially distanced performances to older residents across the area.
Féile 2020 organisers have also thanked all its partners, volunteers, local residents, and the funders from The Executive Office, Urban Villages, Co-Operation Ireland, Derry City & Strabane District Council and Department of Foreign Affairs.