New York's Peace Bridge to be lit up for Mayo Day

PROUD Mayo man Padraic D. Walsh has come up trumps again for this year's global Mayo Day celebrations.

In 2015 the Kiltimagh native managed to help get the world famous Niagara Falls lit up in the county colours for the inagural Mayo Day. Now he has managed to arrange to have the world famous Peace Bridge in the USA turned green and red for this year's celebrations.

The Peace Bridge straddles the Niagara River and connects Buffalo, New York, in the USA to Ontario, Canada. The Peace Bridge will be lit in the green and red of Mayo on Thursday, May 3, to start the worldwide countdown to Mayo Day on Saturday, May 5. The lighting will begin at dusk and continue through to 4 a.m. on Friday, May 4.

Commented the Buffalo-based School of Law university lecturer: “The lighting of the Peace Bridge will help bring an international flavor to Mayo Day, and demonstrate the reaches around the globe that Mayo people have.”

The original idea had come from a tweet from the director of Mayo Manchester Tourism and Business Group, Tony Hennigan, who has been one of the biggest supporters of Mayo County Council’s Mayo Day project.

In 2015 he sent a tweet out asking for the Mayo Diaspora around the world to get involved in the global Mayo Day celebration.

Tony explained: “Since 2015 we have just been encouraging people all over the world to get behind the worldwide Mayo Day project. We got Padraic involved from a tweet we sent out from our social media account asking if anyone in the Mayo Diaspora could get Niagra Falls turned green and red.

“It is great to see him coming up trumps again.”

He continued: “This year we have been promoting Mayo Day during the Manchester Irish Festival and managed to get a primetime slot on BBC Breakfast TV on St. Patrick's Day featuring our dancers from Reel Rhythm, which was broadcast to two million people.

“We are staging our own Mayo Day Tradfest in Manchester and are flying over the Murphy Sisters from Mayo to headline the concert at M19Bar and music venue on Saturday, May 5.

“We have been working with a number of Mayo hotels and restaurants to promote them in the UK as part of the Mayo Day celebrations. It is a great oppurtunity to showcase Mayo tourism on a global level.”

This year Mayo County Council are staging their Made of Mayo showcase at Ballinrobe Racecourse as one of the major highlights.

Said Mayo Day organiser Martina Hughes from Mayo.ie: “Mayo Day has really caught the imagination of the Mayo diaspora around the globe. The countdown to this global party has now started and we look forward to hearing from as many groups and organisations with a connection to Mayo to take on the Mayo spirit and help us turn the world green and red.”

 

This year's Mayo Day celebrations take place over the May bank holiday weekend, on Saturday and Sunday, May 5 and 6. For more details about the global celebration and how to get involved, visit www.mayo.ie