Famous festival will bring thousands to city with Christmas lights turned on at close of special day
Every year, in the last week of November, Armagh City residents hold their Georgian Festival over several days, when visitors can see living history performances, enjoy local food and craft stalls, or take a guided history tour.
The event ends with a light show and the official Christmas light switch-on.
“It’s one of the signature festivals of Armagh. It would be the festival that draws the most people into the city,” said Donna Fox, a local guide.
“When you consider Armagh city’s population is 16,500, on the Saturday of the festival there would be over 30,000 people here so it’s a big event,” she added.
And it’s not just people from Northern Ireland who come.
“It’s a nice mix, do you have people from the city, from the county, from the council area, from the neighbouring counties,” said Ms Fox.
“People coming up from down south, people from all over Northern Ireland and people from abroad.
“Last year, there was a mother and daughter who came over from Luxembourg, especially for the festival.”
Aoife Cleland, Issac Beattie, Rowan McIntyre and Sheila Rooney are some of the living history performers taking part.
They are all passionate about educating the public on the impact the Georgian era had on Armagh, with many of the structures built during the period still standing today.
“Archbishop Robinson had the money, the wealth, and the foresight to develop Armagh into the second city in Ireland, the first being Dublin,” Issac explained.
“What he did here was fantastic, not just to look at, but he provided a hospital so that the poor could have treatment for free.
“He provided a library so that those who could read, but couldn’t afford a book, could go and learn and gain knowledge for free.
You just sometimes walk around and see the building and everything from that time period and it’s quite romantic, you can almost imagine that it is that era
“And also, of course, he developed the town, he put in streets and pavements, sewers, street lighting, and a lot of things that we take for granted today, but he did that out of his own purse”.
Rowan said locals in Armagh are passionate about preserving their history.
“You just sometimes walk around and see the building and everything from that time period and it’s quite romantic, you can almost imagine that it is that era,” he said.
One living historian is so committed to representing the era accurately she made her own costume.
“I have a passion for history and sort of historical costume and I wanted to do the challenge of making my own garment and that was sort of how I wanted to present myself in character and whilst having fun too,” Aoife said.
“Sewing and historical sewing is actually quite mindful. It’s something I can focus on myself and only think of the costume and the time period,” she added.
Aoife first performed in the festival while in primary school child, playing a street urchin, and thinks it’s important to engage young people.
“I think the next generation are going be the caretakers of our heritage and our future and continuing that story of our place, which is Armagh.
“I think those programmes, such as the street urchins, are a great way to get kids interested in their local history, but also getting them interested in performance and expressing themselves and getting into the mindset of what it might have been like, back in the 18th century,” she said.
Sheena Kerr, of Armagh Sports and Trophies, said the Georgian Festival encourages visitors to shop locally.
“It takes so many people into Armagh. The whole town is closed off, there’s no driving through the town, the footfall that it brings is amazing,” she said.
“We don’t have another day like it so it’s so good to get the people in and see what the businesses are like in Armagh.
“We are known for having small independent retail businesses so it’s good to get people from outside Armagh into Armagh to see our businesses.” For the first year, Armagh Sports and Trophies is set to have a stall at the festival.
“It’s going to showcase things that often get overlooked in the shop, wee hats and gifts and things,” Sheena explained.
She said the festival brings the local community together.
“I love the whole atmosphere of Georgian Day, it really gets everybody in Armagh ready for Christmas, there’s nowhere else where you’ll get this atmosphere for Christmas,” she said.
“In a digital world where everyone lives in their own little bubble it’s a great day to get out and meet everyone again.”
