Time to answer Cavan’s Call!

PREVIEW Action-packed programme of events

Cavan Calling will kick off next Wednesday (July 26) and is expected to bring people together - physically and virtually - from across the globe.

The homecoming festival was due to take place in 2020, however was postponed like so many other events due to COVID-19, something festival organiser Emma Clancy believes adds “much greater significance” to the upcoming event.

“The word has spread really right across the world,” Emma enthused, with people coming from places including France, Germany, the middle east and Australia with the festival giving people “a focus” for their homecoming, rather than selecting a random date.

“For so many people 2023 is the first time that they can confidently plan to travel home to reconnect and reunite with family and friends,” Emma detailed.

“We’ve had some heartwarming stories where there's little babies who have been born out in Brisbon and in Boston and they’re just meeting grandparents at home in Cavan this year, this summer for the first time.”

With toddlers now hitting two or three years and families separated for much longer than expected due to the pandemic, Emma said the anticipation for the festival is on a par with Christmas eve, although she didn’t like mentioning the 'C' word so soon.

“I think it really has more meaning now than what we had ever anticipated and, to be part of that, I think is very special.

“You touch down, you get back into Cavan, you’re walking the streets, you bump into somebody, I think that’s what we’re aiming for.”

With some of her own family living abroad, Emma hopes that excitement will be infectious and generate a buzz around the county.

She explained the event is just as much for local people as it is for those living abroad.

“You mightn't even see them even if you are living here all the time,” she said.

The programme features a range of events for all ages, with Emma highlighting a few and adding that they can all be found on the Cavan Calling website. Kicking off the event will be a two-day diaspora conference at the Johnston Central Library, which is being billed as “a lovely opportunity to explore different aspects of Cavan diaspora” and how people from the area have ended up “right across the globe".

Along with this there will be historical tours, traditional music and dancing sessions, a family fun day in Killykeen Forest Park, drama, poetry, an event at the Digital Hub to showcase Cavan’s businesses, described as “wonderful success stories”, which Emma hopes will give “opportunity to people abroad who are thinking of coming home".

Launching in the library on Friday evening is a book of diaspora stories from Cavan people living abroad who have “made their mark for good and for bad”, which has been compiled by Jonathan Smyth, the Celt's Times Past columnist.

“We have a wonderful collection of stories,” she said.

Cavan Day

Celebrations are “all systems go" for Saturday, July 29, which will mark Cavan Day.

“There’s so much planned right from early morning,” she said, with the day kicking off with a run in the park at 9:30am “for those that are feeling energetic".

“It’s going right up until dark and finishing off with a firework display,” she said, adding that the “legendary” Boomtown Rats will close Cavan Day.

The weekend will consist of a family event at Cavan County Museum, centenary celebrations at Kingspan Breffni Park with a service in Cavan Cathedral followed by a parade of Cavan GAA clubs, cottage markets on Town Hall street with artisan foods and crafts, music, busking, a carnival at Cavan No. 1 school and comedy duo Bushwhacked performing outside the library and a tribute to Cavan film inside the library, among other events which people can “dip in and out” of.

“Cavan town is the place to be and it’s an open invitation for everybody to come along,” she said of the Cavan Calling festival.

“You’ll be surprised at who you’ll see.”

Emma is most grateful for the support from Cavan County Council who have funded the event. She also thanked those who have participated in organising the festival and who have organised celebrations locally.

“Right across the county there are events happening, events have happened and will continue to take place right up until the end of September,” she said.

More information on events taking place can be found on the Cavan Calling website and also on their social media pages.