Croí na hÉireann
Festival 2024
The Athlone Croí na hÉireann Festival will run this year from Thursday March 14th with events throughout the town, finishing with our annual St. Patrick's Day parade through the town on Monday March 18th.
Check back regularly for details of the events as they are published!!!
Festival Schedule 2024
Parade Route 2024
Parade Order 2024
Parade Order for Social Media170324.xlsx
Festival Launch for 2024 !
The Athlone Croí na hÉireann festival for 2024 will be officially launched on St. Valentine's day (rather fittingly for a festival from the heart of Ireland!).
The launch event will be held in TUS at 11:00am on February 14th!
All are welcome!
6km Run Fundraiser
There was a great turnout on a beautiful fine, sunny, Sunday morning for the 6Km Run from the Bounty, around the Coosan area. The first three Ladies and Men home are shown below.
Ladies Winners
Kate Kelly, Deirdre Keena and Eimear Gaffey
Mens Winners
Joshua Schnell, David Watson, David Cuddy
6Km Run
Lace up your running shoes and join us for the Athlone Croí na hÉireann fundraiser 6 km Run on Sunday, February 11th!
Registration is at the Bounty Bar from 8:45 am, and the run will start at 9:30am.
This is for men and women of all fitness levels, and for the competitive ones, there are cash/vouchers for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.
Tea and coffee will be available, as well as toilets and changing facilities.
Come along for a fun-filled event and support a great cause. Let's make every step count!
6Km Run Route Map
Table Quiz Fundraiser
Table Quiz
The Croí na hÉireann Festival Committee held a very successful Table Quiz in the Bounty on Thursday 25th January with a great attendance and great craic.
Community involvement came to the fore once again with Tanya Cannon of A1 Cleaning sponsoring first prize and some great raffle prizes donated with Athlone Basketball providing an Annual Family membership to the value of €200, Seery's of Athlone and Martin Ward of na Fianna donating beautiful Hampers and the winning team donating the prize money back to the fundraiser.
The Chairman, John Henson, thanked all who attended and those who provided Sponsorship and spot prizes.
He praised the great work done on the night by Gerry Duignan and the "Ericsson Crew " along with quizmaster Sharon Clinton and all the committee members.
It was particularly gratifying to see Committee members from Feile na Sionnaine, Athlone Agri Show and the Shannon River Festival out for the night supporting our festival and it augurs well for the future of festivals in Athlone when all the groups are willing to work and support each other.
Parade Grand Marshal 2024
The picture shows Martin Ward of the Na Fianna Kickboxing Club, Deirdre Berry, Manager of the Esker House Womens Refuge (both Croí na hÉireann committee members), John Henson, Chairman of the Croí na hÉireann festival, Parade Grand Marshal for 2024, Gerry Johnson, and Cllr Frankie Keena, Croí na hÉireann festival treasurer.
Gerry Johnson
The Croí na hÉireann festival committee are delighted to announce the selection of Gerry Johnson, Chairman of the Athlone Tidy Towns committee, as the St. Patrick's Day Parade Grand Marshal for 2024.
The Athlone Tidy Towns Committee have played a huge part in raising the profile of the town, and presenting a really good first impression of Athlone to all visitors. his is also reflected in the fact they have won three Gold medals in recent years in the national Tidy Towns competition.
As a totally voluntary group, the committee liaises with local councillors, county county officials and employees, and the various residents associations.
In accepting the honour of being chosen as Grand marshal, Gerry said that it is gratifying to see the hard work of the committee being recognised, and he hoped that this would raise the group's profile even higher and drive participation levels locally.
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Festival 2023
Parade Grand Marshal 2023
Tanya Cannon
The theme for this years St. Patricks Day parade is "Mná Na hÉireann", and in keeping with that theme, we are delighted to announce that the Grand Marshal for this years parade will be local Athlone businesswoman and author Tanya Cannon.
Making the announcement, Festival chairman John Henson said that Tanya represented all the qualities required for such a prestigious role.
Tanya is the owner of A1 Cleaning Maintenance & Services Ltd., and has provided support to many charities and sporting bodies in the Athlone area.
She is seen here on the left being congratulated by Uachtairáin na hÉireann Michael D. Higgins.
More details on the Westmeath Independent
Left-to-Right: Festival Treasurer Frankie Keena, Festival PRO Deirdre Berry, Grand Marshal Tanya Cannon, Uachtairáin na hÉireann Michael D. Higgins, Festival Chairman John Henson, Minister for Sport Thomas Byrne.
Presenting the Festival Staff to Grand Marshal Tanya Cannon is Sports Minister Thomas Byrne. Also included are Festival Treasurer Frankie Keena, Festival Chairman John Henson, Festival PRO Deirdre Berry and Mayor Vinny McCormack
Festival Programme
Run/Walk 5k
Arise Athlone and run or walk 5km on St. Patrick's Day!
The 5km run and walk will be held on the walking track in the sports center itself, safe and secure, without use of the public roads.
The 5km Run will start in the Athlone Regional Sports Centre (by the entrance) circa 10am - all levels of runner is welcome.
For those who prefer a more sedate level of activity, we invite all and sundry to come and walk the same 5km route from circa 10:30am.
Eircode: N37 W3W0
McFaddens Funfair
McFaddens Funfair start their year in Athlone from the 10th to the 19th of March as part of the Croí na hÉireann festival!
The funfair will be in Burgess park (beside Golden Island Shopping Centre), and will be open on weekdays from 5pm, and on St Patricks Day and Sunday the 19th, will be open from 1pm.
Come along and share in the fun !!!
Teddy Bears Picnic
Fun for all the little ones in your family!
Join us at the White Gates on the Ballymahon Road (entrance to the Athlone Greenway) at 12 noon.
We will have a trail of surprises along the Greenway for all the children, followed by the Teddy Bears Picnic in Garrycastle GAA Club.
Eircode: (near to) N37 P9W3
Fun on the water !
Raising the Bunting
The bunting doesn't put itself up!
Out doing the job on a lovely sunny Athlone morning were Frankie Keena, Pat Fitzpatrick and John Henson.