LISDOONVARNA’s matchmaking festival is set to return with a bang this September and singles from all over the globe are expected to descend on the North Clare ‘love town’.
Live music and entertainment will ring out from bars and venues all Lisdoon, including the Ritz, the Rathbaun, the Royal Spa, the Ravine and the Roadside Tavern for the month-long festival of music and dancing.
Music and dancing will take place in bars from 11am in the morning to the wee hours of the night. However, festival organisers said that live music events at the Marquee and Pavilion theatre will not be going ahead this year, due to rising operational costs.
COVID-19 caused the cancellation of the festival for the past two years, it did relocate to Spain last year swapping the North Clare climate for the sun-soaked Alicante.
Europe’s largest matchmaking festival has been held in Lisdoonvarna for over 160 years and it boasts its own third generation matchmaker Willie Daly, who will be in attendance at this year’s event.
Willie is classed as a veteran matchmaker, having made over 3000 matches in his 50 years in the role. He is looking forward to the festival’s return, “The festival will be a wonderful release of emotions that have been lying dormant for the last few years due to COVID. Love, friendship and companionship is never more needed than now. People are love- starved and many marriages are on the cards for this year’s festival”.
Last year, a new US film called ‘As luck would have it’ which was inspired by the festival resulted in a huge amount of interest from the American market.
