Magical JuneFest enthralls in Newbridge
June Fest at Main St Newbridge Aoife Geraghty , Keith O'Brien and Annmarie Ennis Photos: Jimmy Fullam
JUNEFEST 2026 came to an end at the weekend (7 June), which saw 10 days of vibrant celebration brought to the heart of Newbridge, akin to the Edinburgh Fringe.
This influence was no coincidence though, and that was in large part due to the vision of JuneFest committee led by its ebullient chairperson Annie Morris, who was previously a director of the fringe.
As things began to wind down towards last weekend the managed to get catch Annie for a view on this year’s celebration.
“Everything was well-attended across all 31 different events,” said Annie, mentioning a figure that karmically mirrored the anniversary.
“But oh, the weather gods have been generous, which was a godsend, and we even got the rain to stop on the Bank Holiday Monday!” she laughed.
“We put a call out to everybody to put out their Child of Prague!”
She added: “It wasn’t blue skies … but it was happy faces, and we’ve been delighted with the response of the town as a whole.
“What we try to do every year is to find something new for the JuneFest, and so I brought something from my history in the Edinburgh Fringe, and this year was to try and create tiny shop events with the doors and people wandering into the magic.
“We had live music and board in Mini Mocha the Open-Air Coffee Shop.
“This was where we tried to encourage young players who had done very little public work to come and play, and we even got one first-timer who had never played outside of her own bedroom, and she played for half an hour and came out buzzing. It was very special – absolutely magical.
“There was World Music in St Patrick’s Church, history walks, including a tour of Clongorey which was really for the history buffs.
“We put in a stage up on Market Street for Abba tribute band ‘Bjorn Identity’, and this place was absolutely jammed – and it felt like you were in a continental city.
“They’re playing in the King’s Hall in Belfast on Sunday night at £30 a head, and we gave that to the people of Newbridge for free.
“It was seeing Newbridge through fresh eyes, taken as a journey of what happened, what’s happening, and what will happen in the town."
“We had a woman called Hazel Cathal doing a Liffey Sound Bath in Linear Park.
“If you’ve seen that in Central Park in New York you’ve said ‘cool’, but this is in Newbridge!
“We were trying to show the Linear Park as a jewel in our town, and that Newbridge is actually beautiful.
“We had Deric (Hartigan, the beloved TV weatherman) down on Friday morning, and he was bouncing all around the place!
“Oh, on the Family Fun Day on the Bank Holiday morning it poured as everybody was trying to set up stall with rain running down their faces but stopped on the dot at noon and stayed away until close at 4.30pm.
“Triona Walshe, who spent six months organising this, is a local legend.
“And Caroline Morrissey who brought the festival of dance for a third year in a row, and it was a joyful experience for all to see the work she has done with Kare and the joy of expression her students enjoy.”
