The award winning fifth annual Mayo Manchester Tradfest which is based in and around Ballina will be spreading its wings in the summer by visiting other parts of Mayo. The Festival will see over 500 performers take part in over 100 events which includes its first visit to Westport to celebrate the Towns 250th anniversary during its 6 Day Tradfest from Thursday 3 August to Wednesday 9 August.

The week-long family friendly festival which is now in its fifth year will feature a whole host of award winning performers involved in 10 key events and a further 92 fringe events and is expected to attract over 50,000 visitors. The unique celebration featuring performers from Mayo and Manchester and this year reached the Finals of the 2017 Tourism Ireland Industry awards.

The Festival is launched in Attymass with a live two hour radio broadcast by Midwest Radio on Thursday 3 August. This is followed by a Tradfest trail in Ballina on Friday 4 August and one on Saturday in Castlebar.

The Voice of Old Trafford, Mr Alan Keegan from Manchester United Football club is flying over to host the special Charity Gala Concert on Saturday 5 August in aid of the Manchester Emergency Fund at the Ballina Arts Centre. All the profits from the show are being donated to the fund which is helping victims of the recent Terrorist bomb in Manchester. Sunday 6 August sees the festival visit Foxford and stage a special concert in Attymass.

On Monday 7 August the tradfest will launch the Bonniconlon show before heading to Westport to stage a special Gala Concert at Westport Town Hall Theatre to celebrate Westport’s 250th anniversary. Headlining the event is Mayo’s award winning Trad band ‘Flatout’ who will be joined by Joe Keegan from the BBC TV show The Voice, The Keegan Academy of Irish Dancing who are trained by the new Lord of the Dance – James Keegan, plus The Fianna Phadraig Pipe Band and special guests.

Tickets for the historic show are priced at just €10 before end of June, or €15 after.

Finally the Festival is brought to a close in Westport’s legendary Matt Molloys Music venue with a special Trad session on Wednesday 9 August.

For more information about the 6 Day Mayo Manchester Tradfest visit www.mayomanchester.com