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The Dalriada Festival (now known as Dalfest) is an annual cultural and heritage festival of sport, music and foods that takes place in the village of Glenarm, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom each July. [1]
The main events take place at Glenarm Castle. The festival was first held in 1995 and has grown to include Highland Games, [2] celebrity chef demonstrations, performing arts, live music, craft stalls and children's entertainment. [3]
As part of the festival, Glenarm Castle also hosts outdoor concerts known as "DalriadaLIVE". [4] Artists who have appeared at DalriadaLIVE include General Fiasco, Duke Special, Amici, The Priests, Brian Houston, David Phelps, Ronan Keating, Sharon Corr, Nathan Carter and Lisa McHugh. [5] Glenarm village and the local area provides the location for the sporting events such as a triathlon, kids duathlon, mountain run, football, shinty, rowing regatta and horse hunt chase. [6] The village also hosts community based events including a treasure hunt, fun run, it's a knockout, a foraging walk, and Northern Ireland's only wife-carrying competition. [7] In 2013, additional events were added to the festival programme including a hiring fair and a super EnduroCross competition at the old quarry in Glenarm. The festival week traditionally comes to end with a street carnival, live music and a fireworks finale. [8]
The festival is seen as one of the best throughout Ireland and regularly sees over 25,000 people in attendance. [9] [10]
The festival also supports a nominated charity each year, including SANDS and the Signal Foundation. [11]
The festival was cancelled in 2020 due to the Covid 19, but a 'Homefest' event was held in 2020 where artists performed at Glenarm with a livestream broadcast.
In 2021 the festival was repackaged as 'Dalfest' and was held as a live event with social distancing regulations in place. Artists included The Undertones, Pixie Lott and Ella Henderson. [12]
The 2022 event saw guests including Tom Odell, Melanie C, Roman Kemp, Paddy Raff, Dea Matrona and the Belfast Community Gospel Choir. [13]
The 2023 festival is due to be held on 15–16 July, with The Vamps and KT Tunstall included in the guest list. [14] [15]
County Antrim is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of 3,086 square kilometres (1,192 sq mi) and has a population of 651,321, as of the 2021 census. County Antrim has a population density of 211 people per square kilometre or 546 people per square mile. It is also one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland.
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Larne is a town on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, with a population of 18,853 at the 2021 census. It is a major passenger and freight roll-on roll-off port. Larne is administered by Mid and East Antrim Borough Council. Together with parts of the neighbouring districts of Antrim and Newtownabbey and Causeway Coast and Glens, it forms the East Antrim constituency for elections to the Westminster Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly. The civil parish is in the historic barony of Glenarm Upper.
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Irvinestown is a town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. At the 2021 Census it had a population of 2,325 people. The most notable buildings are Necarne Castle, formerly known as Castle Irvine, and Castle Archdale. Irvinestown is situated within Fermanagh and Omagh district.
Castlewellan is a small town in County Down, in the south-east of Northern Ireland close to the Irish Sea. It is beside Castlewellan Lake and Slievenaslat mountain, 11 miles (18 km) southwest of Downpatrick. It lies between the Mourne Mountains and Slieve Croob. It had a population of 2,782 people in the 2011 census.
Newtownabbey is a large settlement north of Belfast city centre in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is separated from the rest of the city by Cavehill and Fortwilliam golf course, but it still forms part of the Belfast metropolitan area. It surrounds Carnmoney Hill, and was formed from the merging of several small villages including Whiteabbey, Glengormley and Carnmoney. At the 2011 census, Metropolitan Newtownabbey Settlement had a population of 65,646, making it the third largest settlement in Northern Ireland. It is part of Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council.
Antrim is a town and civil parish in County Antrim in the northeast of Northern Ireland, on the banks of the Six Mile Water, on the northeast shore of Lough Neagh. It had a population of 25,606 people in the 2021 Census. It is the county town of County Antrim and was the administrative centre of Antrim Borough Council until its 2015 merger with Newtownabbey Borough Council. It is 22 miles (35 km) northwest of Belfast.
The culture of Northern Ireland relates to the traditions of Northern Ireland. Elements of the Culture of Ulster and the Culture of the United Kingdom are to be found.
Glenarm is a village in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It lies on the North Channel coast north of the town of Larne and the village of Ballygalley, and south of the village of Carnlough. It is situated in the civil parish of Tickmacrevan and the historic barony of Glenarm Lower. It is part of Mid and East Antrim Borough Council and had a population of 568 people in the 2011 Census. Glenarm takes its name from the glen in which it lies, the southernmost of the nine Glens of Antrim.
The Arts Council of Northern Ireland is the lead development agency for the arts in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1964, as a successor to the Committee for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (CEMA).
The Belfast Film Festival is Northern Ireland's film festival, attracting over 25,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1995, the festival has grown to include the Docs Ireland international documentary festival, as well as an Audience Development and Inclusion program. The festival also sponsors year-round film screenings around Belfast.
Ballygally Castle is in the village of Ballygally, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, located approximately 3 miles north of Larne. The castle overlooks the sea at the head of Ballygally Bay. Now run as a hotel, it is the only 17th century building still used as a residence in Northern Ireland, and is reputed to be one of the most haunted places in all of Ulster.
Cushendall, formerly known as Newtownglens, is a coastal village and townland in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is located in the historic barony of Glenarm Lower and the civil parish of Layd, and is part of Causeway Coast and Glens district.
Dalriada School is a mixed voluntary grammar school in Ballymoney in the north of County Antrim in Northern Ireland, named after the Kingdom of Dál Riata. In 2008 the school won the Northern Ireland State Secondary School of the Year award from The Sunday Times.
Glenarm Castle, Glenarm, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, is the ancestral home of the Earl of Antrim.
The culture of Belfast, much like the city, is a microcosm of the culture of Northern Ireland. Hilary McGrady, chief executive of Imagine Belfast, claimed that "Belfast has begun a social, economic and cultural transformation that has the potential to reverberate across Europe." Belfast is split between two rarely-overlapping vibrant cultural communities, a high-culture of opera, professional theatre, filmmaking and the visual arts and a more popular or commercial culture. Throughout the short years of troubles, Belfast tried to express itself through art and music. Hi In the second decade of the twenty-first century, the city has a growing international cultural reputation
Randalstown is a townland and small town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, between Antrim and Toome. It has a very prominent disused railway viaduct and lies beside Lough Neagh and the Shane's Castle estate. The town is bypassed by the M22 motorway with junctions at both the eastern and western ends of the town. It had a population of 5,151 people in the 2021 Census.
Northern Ireland Opera is Northern Ireland's national opera company.
Angela Christina MacDonnell, Countess of Antrim, also known as Angela Antrim, was Countess of Antrim, a sculptor, a cartoonist, and an illustrator.
