Moonlight and Magic in Mayo
The towns and villages bordering Ireland’s only DARK SKY PARK will team up once again to organise the fifth annual Mayo Dark Sky Festival. The 2020 Festival will be a little different of course, as it will take place online, respecting current Covid-19 restrictions.
In previous years the festival has featured talks on physics, culture and the environment, family friendly science workshops, as well as walks, stargazing sessions – and more than a little magic!
The hardworking team behind the popular festival is putting together an exciting online programme which will find innovative ways of celebrating the stunning dark skies of County Mayo. According to festival spokesperson Georgia MacMillan “We certainly will miss welcoming people in person to events here in Newport, Mulranny and Ballycroy – but we think this new format offers great scope for combining creativity and technology to bring the magic of Mayo’s skies to the world”.
Georgia reminds us of the reasons behind the annual festival. “We really want to share our passion for the pristine night skies of Mayo with as many people as possible. Clear unpolluted skies are now, sadly, a rarity – the Milky Way is so obscured by the effects of modern lighting that it is no longer visible to over 50% of Irish people – and that figure is as high as 80% in mainland Europe and The US. Mayo Dark Sky Park is a stunning natural asset that we are only now beginning to truly appreciate.”
The one day festival will take place on Saturday 31st October 2020. The full programme of online events will be published shortly on the festival website at www.mayodarkskyfestival.ie
Further information:
Fiona Hopkins, Festival Director
+353 87 7918172 or fionahopkins.newport@gmail.com
Georgia MacMillan, Friends of Mayo Dark Skies
+353 86 8595166 or mayodarksky@gmail.com