Wild Child Day in the Park

Clonmel Applefest are planning a day of natural material arts and biodiversity awareness activities on Saturday 19th August at Clonmel’s Denis Burke Park in conjunction with Suircan Environmental.

The event which will focus on learning and enjoying the natural world and biodiversity around us will be run in conjunction with artists Louise Kirkham of Greenmantle Arts and long-time Applefest craft facilitator Elke Wilson. Entomologist/ insect specialist Louise Garcia will run a biodiversity strand in conjunction with Suircan.

The focus of the day’s activities will be hands-on arts & crafts using willow which grow in abundance along the river in the park: you are invited to participate in a fish-themed lantern-making workshop with Elke Wilson and help in the construction of a giant salmon by Lynn Kirkham of Greenmantle Arts. Both arts works are tied to Applefest’s Harvest procession which will take place later in September.

As part of this, we will also inaugurate this year’s message-making activity, themed around CARE and its wisdom for our age: what do we care about? Who do we care for? And what wisdom can we draw from this knowledge? The ‘Care messages’ will then integrated in this year’s Applefest Harvest Fair, where they will be attached to the Wisdom Salmon and carried through the town as part of our annual joyous street procession which will culminate with a fire ceremony in the park on Saturday 23rd September.