Deadline for Birr Vintage Week programme is this Friday!

The deadline to get your event into the Birr Vintage Week and Arts Festival programme is this Friday June 10, at 5pm.
A lot of work is going on behind the scenes at the moment, preparing for this year's Vintage Week, which will run from July 29th to August 7th.
Some of the old favourites will be returning, including the market on Green Street, the fireworks display, the parade, a number of the children's events, car treasure hunt, Crinkill soapbox derby and the fly in.
There's a huge desire amongst the people of the town to see a full Vintage Week again after two years of the pandemic.
The people of Birr and south Offaly are especially keen to see the Parade again and they are hoping it will be a particularly special parade.
After two years of the pandemic, people want to enjoy the public space in a festival setting with friends and family and neighbours.
Coronavirus put us all through the wringer and everyone wants to enjoy the things which they used to enjoy but were denied to them because of Covid.
Birr Vintage Week is the crown in the Birr Festival calendar, and will feature professional, national and international artists bringing visual arts, theatre, music, street theatre, pop-up performers, workshops, exhibitions and lots more, together with a variety of community events.
Colm Croffy and Rebecca Kelly are co-ordinating the festival in a professional capacity. They are being supported by a team of volunteers, including the festival's arts curator Caroline Conway and the Board of Directors (Janine Wilson, Emma Nee Haslam and Cailin Keaveny).
Colm and Rebecca point out that a lot more volunteers are needed, especially for the Parade. Colm is making an appeal to the public to contact him and Rebecca and offer to help out. “Even if it's only for a few hours; even if it's something very simple, it will help,” he said.
Funding for the festival is being provided by Creative Ireland, Birr Municipal District, Offaly County Council and the Arts Council. The Arts Council has increased its funding this year.
However, a considerable amount of match funding has to be found from the community and the festival needs funding assistance. There are various levels of funding possible: €1500 (Diamond), €750 (Platinum), €500 (Gold), €350 (Silver) and €100 (Bronze). About €30,000 in match funding is required, which is a big ask.
Colm, in his capacity as Festivals Coordinator is looking after the thing which people dislike, namely the bureaucracy, the form-filling of grant applications. The level of bureaucracy and taxing paperwork has got out of hand in Ireland and it is seriously vexing many voluntary groups. The solution in Birr has been to hire a professional (Colm) to handle this tedious side of things. He's overseeing the towns five annual festivals, including the Festival of Music, Scripts, Hullabaloo, and OFFline Film Festival.
Colm and Rebecca point out that people can help by managing crowds, moving things, attending at venues. They stress that being a volunteer doesn't mean you will become a member of the committee. Colm said a lot of people around Ireland are suffering from “committee-itis”. “One mention of the word committee and you see people's mental shutters coming down.” The volunteers will be linked by a WhatsApp group.
Birr Vintage Week will also have a parade coordinator, a Green St coordinator, and a Fireworks night coordinator.
The coordinators are appealing to the town's various clubs and organisations to think of events which they could organise, or perhaps bring back some old, popular events. “There are a lot of great events in people's memory banks which would be worth resurrecting,” remarked Colm.
This year, the Courthouse Yard will be an outdoor Arts Hub and drop in space for Vintage Week with a host of events throughout the week. To dress up the space, a series of flags is being created to represent all things Birr.
After a break, Birr Air Display is back with its most exciting line up in their 10 year history.
This year, they have the “Top Guns” of international UK & Ireland Air display acts coming to show their skill. The Display will be at Birr Airfield on Monday August 1st from the 2 to 5.30pm.
On Saturday August 6th the Crinkle Soapbox Race will be back and bigger than ever. The organisers are now accepting entries.
The official launch of the 54th Birr Vintage Week and Arts Festival is at 7.30pm on Thursday June 30. If you would like to get involved email Colm and Rebecca at birrfestivalscollective@gmail.com or vintageweekoffice@gmail.com or call 089 4735055.
If you would like to be a sponsor here is the festival's account details:
Name: Birr Vintage Week and Arts Festival
IBAN: IE16AIBK93227211771065 BIC: AIBKIE2D, AIB Birr