Carn Easter Parade makes welcome return

This April Carndonagh will have its first Easter parade since the pandemic stopped the event in 2019.

“It’s the main community event for the spring. We don’t do St Patrick’s Day so everyone always looks forward to the Easter Monday parade in the town instead,” said committee member Christina Galbraith.

“We are trying to encourage as many people as possible, including community groups and sports groups, to enter this year and make it a parade to remember.”

And she says there’s no time to lose either, particularly with less than three weeks to go. You can get onboard by contacting the committee on their Facebook page.

“We were held up due to more red tape than normal this year, so we only got the final go-ahead for it last Tuesday.”

“We then had a committee meeting on Saturday and decided we should go ahead with it,” Christina said.

At the moment around a dozen entries have been so far confirmed but organisers are obviously keen to add many more floats to that number between now and Easter Monday.

“We have the GAA, the Scouts and other big organisations which have registered their floats but we want to keep that interest going because we need to get a fair amount of additional floats to have a decent parade.”

Businesses benefit

Christina has been involved with the Easter parade organising committee for the past decade. She says the day typically brings a much-needed boost to Carn.

“It’s a bit of craic. A lot of the businesses will put in floats to promote their business, but they will usually have a bit of humour and be well-decorated.”

“All the local businesses benefit from the day too. All the cafes, bars and shops benefit because a lot of people are in town that day.”

She’s hopeful that the April weather will play ball too.

“Hopefully we’ll have good weather again. The majority of the years we have enjoyed dry and sunny days but there have been an odd few wet days too.”

The Carn Easter Monday Parade takes place on April 10, leaving Tul Na Ri carpark at 3pm.

“Please support this event, either by entering a float or coming out to watch on the day,” Christina added.

Meanwhile anyone wishing to register a float may do so on the Carndonagh Easter Parade Facebook page.

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