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Exciting programme unveiled for the 2024 Limerick Wild Geese Festival on Saturday, July 6 and Sunday, July 7
2024 Limerick Wild Geese Festival organising committee pictured with the former Mayor of Limerick – Michelle Daly-Hayes, Randel Hodkinson, Cllr Gerald Mitchell, former Mayor of Limerick, Dr. Loïc Guyon, Lorna Hodkinson, Dr. Paul O’Brien. Picture: Skyview Photography
The 2024 Limerick Wild Geese Festival commemorates the historical episode of the Flight of the Wild Geese

The 2024 Limerick Wild Geese Festival will be celebrated in the treaty city on Saturday, July 6 and Sunday, July 7.
It commemorates the historical episode of the Flight of the Wild Geese and celebrates the long-standing friendship between Ireland and France.
In the days leading up to the weekend of festivities, Mother Macs will organise a special whiskey tasting with a French touch on Thursday, July 4, while the Limerick & Clare Wine Lovers Club will hold a special event at No1 Pery Square around French bubbly wines on Friday, July 5.
The festival itself will kickstart on the morning of Saturday, July 6 with the inauguration of the gate which has been restored by a group of local volunteers on the railing of the Sarsfield statue (Cathedral Place). This will be followed in the Hunt Museum garden by the now traditional boules tournament and afternoon of historical reenactments (by the En Garde team) with live musical entertainment and animations by a range of local bands and community groups. For the first time this year, the Hunt Museum café will set up a barbecue in the garden.
After the great success of the banquet organised last year at the Milk Market, the organisers have decided to make the Wild Geese banquet an annual feature of the festival. The most anticipated black tie event on Saturday, July 6 will take place this year in the LPYMA building on O’Connell St which has been especially restored to its former glory for the occasion. The banquet will include a drinks reception sponsored by Mickey Martins, a six-course menu prepared by chef George Casey (including wine sponsored by O’Briens Wine) and musical entertainment (including soprano Eve Stafford).
On Sunday, July 7, everyone is invited to join the parade of reenactors and veteran associations led by the City of Limerick Pipe Band which will walk from King John’s Castle to the UN memorial in front of St Mary’s Cathedral where the fifth annual flag raising ceremony supported by the Defence Forces will be held. The ceremony is a commemoration of the Flight of the Wild Geese and a celebration of the long-standing friendship between Ireland and France. New this year, the Curraghower Singers will be performing the national anthems at the ceremony. A concert will then take place inside St Mary’s Cathedral starring the Lorcán Mac Mathúna Trio (who have turned writings by Irish poet Aogán Ó Rathaille into songs) and French-American singer and musician Zoé Basha (who will notably perform some Jacobite-inspired songs as well as her own compositions blending traditional Appalachian, Occitan and Irish singing with jazz blues).
It will then be time to bid farewell to the Wild Geese (for this year) on Merchants Quay. Festival founder and honorary consul of France Loïc Guyon said, “I am really glad that the Wild Geese Festival, which is organised by Alliance Française Limerick, has become since 2019 one of the highlights of the summer in the Treaty City. This event couldn’t take place without our loyal sponsors, institutional and corporate, that are the Limerick City & County Council (through the competitive Festivals & Events Grant Scheme), the French Embassy, the University of Limerick, Heavey Technology, Arup, Carelon and, for the first time this year, Conradh na Gaeilge. I would also like to express our gratitude to all the “Friends of the Festival” (over 30 of them!) who support us every year and whose list can be found at the end of the programme. Last but not least, I’d like to thank wholeheartedly my fellow members of the organising committee Michelle Daly-Hayes, Randel and Lorna Hodkinson and Paul O’Brien who have been working so hard over the past few months to put together such an exciting programme of events celebrating Limerick’s history, its heritage, its vibrant cultural life and its strong bond with France”.
The full programme can be downloaded from the Limerick.ie website and the festival’s social media accounts.
Link to the full programme HERE