Muff Féile to debut August Bank Holiday weekend

The Muff Féile is almost like a rebirth of the Muff festival. The last time the festival was held was in 2019, it was due to go ahead in 2020 but Covid put a stop to it.

The aim of the féile is to bring some family fun and entertainment and awaken the village again. 

After covid the festival committee decided to go their own ways. There were talks in 2022 to get the festival going again but unfortunately people were still afraid of covid and didn’t want to get involved.

Towards the end of last summer some people in the community got together and tried to get a new festival organised. As covid killed the festival, the new name is to try and give the féile a new start with some links to the past.

“Some of the kids were asking what it’s like to be in a float.” states Grainne McCool the PR spokesperson for the Féile.

“The kids of today don’t remember the Muff festival. We think it’s only been five years but for an eight or nine year old that’s a lifetime.”

The festival will start on Thursday August 1, however there will be a football tournament on July 31. The first event on the Thursday is a treasure hunt which is a connection with the past. The Muff mayoral results will also be announced on the Thursday night in the Ardmore Bar at The Treehouse. 

Although the Féile begins officially on the Thursday, it will really kick-off with the parade on Friday evening at 7:30pm through the main street of the village. 

The weekend will be packed with many activities such as a sponsored five kilometre run. There will be horse riding for children with additional needs on both days, which has booked up very quickly. The loughs agency will have their marine machine in the village all weekend as well. 

Another link to the past is the food and craft fair which will take place throughout the Saturday as well. However they’ll also have new activities such as Happy Hooves which is a group of miniature ponies based in Culmore, Derry that provide therapy for all, they also are called painting ponies. 

There will be a great Muff bakeoff which will be in memory of James Rehill a young chef from the village who passed away. This is organised by the family. The winner will receive the James Rehill memorial cup.

There will be a drama workshop as well as a hip hop workshop. The hip hop workshop will be hosted by a Dutch rapper  Dchesron who will be over for the weekend. 

There will be amusements as well for the kids, however for teenagers who think they might be too old for them, there is Retro City Arcade which has old arcade games.  

There will be live music throughout the celebrations. The pubs are organising their own singers. David James will be there on the friday. There is talk of social media influencer Black Paddy coming as well.

The full programme of events will be released shortly.