The Dublin Community Blog

It seems the cold weather came quite suddenly earlier in the week. So why not embrace the chill in the air and celebrate winter with a little ice skating? You wouldn’t know it from the online promotional buzz (or complete lack thereof), but an ice rink is now open in Sandyford’s Beacon South Quarter (PDF). Last year’s Dublin on Ice site has yet to be updated (as of this post anyway) and I can’t confirm that the rink is opened in Smithfield. (If YOU can, please let us know in the comments.)

The lack of information on the rink(s) is a bit odd, begging the question, why spend money and other resources on something like an ice rink without getting the word out? Where are the models in Santa outfits? (Maybe we’ll see the advertising ramp up a bit the closer we get to Christmas.)

For now, here’s last year’s promo video from City Channel.

The free Mind the Gap Operetta will be running again next Friday night, as will a few other public art exhibitions in conjunction with Fringe Fest. And yes, there will also be plenty of buskers and stag do/hen party folks around next weekend. Can’t guarantee that we’ll see another group of Austin Powers look-a-likes running around (anybody else see Elvis suddenly appear in that video?), but in Temple Bar, you just never know.

After the brilliant Street Performance Festival one week ago the next interesting festival in this year’s event calendar will start next week – the Temple Bar Circus Festival.

For four action-packed summer days Dublin’s Cultural Quarter will echo with peals of laughter and gasps of amazement as the streets and spaces spring to life, offering you the chance to experience a full and exciting spectrum of circus skills; from dazzling acrobatics and aerial shows, daring Chinese pole and contortion, to outdoor movies and musical mayhem!

An colourfull mixture of acrobatics, dance acts and even outdoor movies will be on display in Temple Bar from July 9th to July 12th – and the best thing about it is that’s everything for free! You will find the complete programme (PDF) here.

Big thanks to Matt from The Expeditioner for directing our attention to a video travel guide that he did recently here in Dublin. It’s a well produced mini-documentary with some great iconic shots of our beloved city. (Not to mention some great background tunes from The Walkmen, Bell X1, etc.)

However, our Irish readers will have to forgive a line in “Part II” about Christchurch Cathedral having the largest crypt “in all the UK.” (Ooooo, oh no he did NOT.) Matt, we’ve posted a DVD to your Brooklyn address entitled, Michael Collins, compliments of The Dublin Community Blog. (No worries, mate. You’re not the first to make that mistake.)

Below is Matt’s Dublin travel guide. CLICK HERE for Part II.

Might be worth a look if you’re looking for something to do this weekend! Weather forecasts are looking good, and I’d love to have a poke around some of the tall ships along with the Le Aoife.

http://www.dublindocklands.ie/maritimefestival/

There’s an outdoor market, along with some street entertainment. Pat Liddy will be holding walking tours of the Docklands area over the weekend.

I love markets and its so exciting to see a new market start up.  May 3rd next sees the launch of the Art & Crafts Market in Newmarket Sq, Dublin 8 – 5 minutes walk from St. Patrick’s Cathedral. It is held on the first Sunday of every month from 11am to 5pm.

In these tough economic times, the market also encourages people to embrace their creative side and make some extra money doing it. So if you think you have a great idea that will sell or think that you can make some money from your favourite hobby then why not take a stall?

On the first Sunday of each month, 35 stall holders will set out their wares and with stalls priced at just €30, the ethos is low rent equals low price and haggling is encouraged!

With free parking on a Sunday and an ideal indoor location, come rain or shine the Art & Crafts Market is a great, fun day out for all the family with entertainment and a cafe offering delicious home made treats.

And if that wasn’t enough we also will be giving away two artworks absolutely free to a lucky winner each month!

Further information including location directions, stall booking and featured stall holders can be found on the Arts & Crafts Market website.

Happy shopping and selling!

ANYONE with an interest in photography will be interested in this post, its something I am late coming too but I figure better late than never. Every now and again a gang of us have photomeets which are not only a great way to meet people and take photographs but they are also a great way to discover new techniques, tips and just have fun with photographs.

Last weekend Phil from Iced Coffee organised a photomeet in Dublin so we all met at the Spire before heading up to Dublin Castle via the boardwalk and Temple Bar. Course a visit to Temple Bar on a Saturday involves a visit to the Food Fair in Meeting Town Square, which inevitably involves everyone getting something to eat before heading onwards.

From Temple Bar we mosied up to Dublin Castle, then Christchurch and then finishing a couple of hours later in the pub. All in all I cannot think of a better way to spend a Saturday afternoon and the fact that despite the weather reports, the sun shone perfect for a day hanging about the city.

So now that the days are longer, brighter and sometimes warmer even, there will be more photomeets and I’ll be sure to let you know about them here when they are organised. In the meantime here’s some of the pics I took during the day and you can check out everyone else’s on Pixie.

As I am still fending off yesterday’s aftereffects, just a short post of a flashmob performing a nice jig outside the Central Bank on St. Patrick’s Eve. Via Darragh.

THANKS to Pixie a gang of us had great viewing spots on the parade route yesterday, needless to say such a vantage point meant I took about 1,000 pics which will take me a good few days to sort through. In the meantime here’s a taster of some the pics, with more being uploaded to the St Patrick’s Festival group on Pixie as as when I finish them.

Hope you all had a great day, it was absolute bedlam in Dublin, crazy, I have never seen so many people hanging about the streets after a parade, mostly due to the wonderful weather I suppose. Anyway it is my intention to write more about the parade when I get a chance but for now here’s some images from the day.