Mayo Dark Sky Festival 2025

principal8251
Oct 10
3 min read

Updated: 4 days ago

Fiona got in touch to let us know what we can expect at this year's Mayo Dark Sky Festival 31 October - 2 November...

Dear Parents,

Firstly, I wanted to say a big THANK YOU to the whole school community for your support of the Mayo Dark Sky Festival since it first started back in 2016.

While I have retired from school life, I am keeping busy with the upcoming festival, which takes place at the end of the mid-term break 31 October - 2 November. The festival always attracts a lot of visitors to the town, and I wanted to be sure that local families also get to enjoy the weekend, so here are just some of the events you might be interested in...

For kids & families...

As always at the Mayo Dark Sky Festival, children under 16 get in free to all of the formal talks in Newport, Mulranny and Ballycroy (no need to book). As well as that, we have...

SIX guided planetarium shows each day in Newport National School, hosted by Blackrock Castle Observatory (FREE)
A Lego workshop for children in Mulranny Arts Centre on Saturday (€5)
A guided Seashore Safari on Mulranny Beach on Sunday morning (€2 per adult, children go free)
Weather permitting, we will also host guided stargazing sessions at Burrishoole Abbey from 8-9pm both Friday and Saturday evenings (FREE)
We will finish with a flourish with our Festival Finale - Join us for our traditional annual LANTERN WALK to St Patricks Church for an amazing concert by the multi-award winning band KILA. This year the Lantern Parade will start from NEWPORT PLAYGROUND, where you will find giant lantern sculptures by artist Tom Meskell. The Lantern Walk is FREE for everyone, and the concert is free for children and festival ticket holders, others €20 – book online or pay at the door)

For lovers of science and astronomy...

Brendan Owens will tell us all about the story of human exploration of the moon and Mars (Hotel Newport Sunday)
Declan Holmes of Science Ireland will be hosting a Solar System Interactive talk (Mulranny Arts Centre Sunday)
Dr Christian Ginski and two of his PhD students will be telling us all about their involvement in the recent discovery of a brand new planet (Hotel Newport Sunday)
Patrick Kavanagh of Maynooth University will tell us all about the latest news from the James Webb Space Telescope (Hotel Newport Saturday)

For lovers of the great outdoors, culture & biodiversity...

There will be guided walks every day at Ballycroy Visitor Centre
Organic gardening specialist Klaus Laitenberger, now living in Newport, will teach us how to grow our own healthy food (Mulranny Arts Centre Sunday)
Writer and broadcaster Seán Ronayne, who has spent many years recording every bird sound on this island, will talk about the Sounds of the Night Sky (Mulranny Arts Centre Saturday)
Up and coming biodiversity specialist Colin Guilfoyle from Mulranny, will talk about the ecological restoration efforts in Wild Nephin National Park, and the effects of earlier restoration attempts on many of our iconic peatland bird species, such as red grouse and golden plover.

I hope some of the above will be of interest. There are lots of ticket options on the website, but I would strongly recommend booking the Lego workshop in advance, as I know there are only a few places left. If you just want to pop your head in to one or two individual talks, you can just pay at the door on the day, and, with six planetarium shows a day in the school hall, there is no need to book, you can just turn up and if the dome is full, just wait for the next show!

I am attaching the full Festival Programme pdf for you to keep handy.

Link to website: www.mayodarkskyfestival.ie

Many many thanks for your support, and I hope to see some of you at the festival!

Fiona