Event Guide 26: Lots of Christmas Markets, NCAD Christmas Fair, Live Animal Crib, Classical at Hugh Lane Gallery, Printing House Festival, Carol Singing, Gloria Choir

Hi all!

I hope you had a nice weekend and a good first half of the week. This week I will have to write and send the Event Guide a little earlier again, because I will be in Germany for a few days at the end of the week.

How are your Christmas preparations going? Are you feeling festive inside? ;-) This weekend will hopefully help you to increase this warm and christmas-sy feeling if you are not in the “zone” yet. Just go to ALL the Christmas markets listed below and maybe that does it for you! :-)
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All Christmas Markets are in full swing now and I will include a comprehensive list here. The list is very long, so please keep this mail for next weekend, I will not repeat all information in next weeks Event Guide 27:

The Docklands Market “12 days of Christmas” (www.ddda.ie) has started on Tuesday and will run until the 23rd Dec. The Market is open every day (Mon–Thurs: 12:00–19:00, Fri-Sun: 10:00–20:00) and in addition to the market stalls there is music:
Blanchardstown Brass Band: 14 Dec: 18:00-20:00, 15+16 Dec: 14:00-16:00
Choir: 15 Dec: 13:00-15:00 (Unfort. it is not clear which choir!)
Carol singers: Sat+Sun during the festival
and entertainment for children:
Santa’s Post Office: 14 Dec: 12:00-19:00, 16+17 Dec: 10:00-19:00
Face Painter: 15+16 Dec: 13:00-16:00
Balloon Maker:  15+16 Dec: 13:00-16:00
You find the market next to and – on the platform – in George’s Dock.
Some of the market stalls could do with a bit more of Christmas atmosphere, but the market is improving every year and you should definitely give it a go! Have some Gluehwein for me. ;-)

Brian, a reader and user of this Guide, tells me that the Liffey Boat that has done (outrageously priced) Liffey Tours (Liffey Voyage) over the summer and until the 25th of November, is offering a low priced shuttle service from Bachelors Walk to the area near the George’s Dock. He has read that the price is EUR 2, but I am not 100% sure if that is per leg or if it is for a return ticket. The Liffey Voyage website does not give the slightest bit of information!! Incredible!
However, I did find when the boat is offering the said service:
Saturday 15th – 12:00-14:00 & 16:00-18:00
Sunday 16th – 12:00-15:00 & 17:00-18:00
Wednesday 19th – 12:00-18:00
Thursday 20th – 12:00-18:00
Friday 21st – 12:00-18:00
Saturday 22nd – 12:00-18:00
Sunday 23rd – 12:00-15:30 & 17:00-18:00

When you are at George’s Dock you should visit as well the newly opened “chq” building next to it. This building was originally built as a tobacco store with vaults beneath to store wine and has now been renovated into a cool looking shopping mall with 7 different shops and more to come.
Before Christmas it is the home of the “12 Trees of Christmas” display/exhibition: From 5th – 14th December a festive display of Christmas trees decorated by fashion designers, artists and celebrities can be visited. The trees will be on show in the Main Concourse of the newly opened CHQ Building. Admission is Free and the building is open from 10:00 – 19:00 every day including Saturday and Sunday.

The other Christmas Market that is on again this weekend is the Cow’s Lane Fashion and Christmas Market in the new extension of Temple Bar (between Turks’s Head and Dublin City Offices). It will run again this Saturday and Sunday from 09:30-16:30 and keep in mind that on Saturday you can go to the Temple Bar Meeting House Square to buy some food at the Temple Bar Food market.

Miren informs me about this event:
In addition to the markets, this week in Temple Bar, Cultivate and NCAD (National College of Art and Design) will have a Christmas Fair in the Cultivate Building (15-19 West Essex Street). This is just next to the Cow’s Lane market and can nicely be combined with a visit to the Cow’s Lane Market. The NCAD Fiar is on Saturday from 11:00-18:00.
The Christmas Fair is where NCAD Students and some graduates and others sell their work to you. You’ll be able to buy Craftwork, Pieces of Art, Jewellery, Bags, Fine Art Prints, Textile work and lots of other little goodies that will make perfect christmas presents.
There will also be a café area with seasonal treats, tea, hot chocolate and vegan cakes. And additionally a ‘busking spot’ will give talented musicians the chance to show off with some
of their music.

Let’s not forget the events at Farmleigh House this weekend and I will just list all the events here. More information can be found on www.farmleigh.ie. Farmleigh House is in Phoenix Park, closer to the Castleknock side than to the Liffey side. These are the events for this weekend:
Sat 15 Dec:
10:00am Christmas Food Market
10:00am Live Crib and Childrens Christmas room
12:00pm Frosty the Snowman
1:45am Frosty the Snowman
3:30pm Frosty the Snowman
12:45pm Storytelling for Children with Niall de Burca
2:30pm Storytelling for Children with Niall de Burca
1:30pm European Christmas from the Slovak Republic
2:00pm Outdoors at Christmas with The Mellowchords
4:15pm Storytelling for Children with Niall de Burca

Sun 16 Dec
10:00am Christmas Food Market
10:00am Live Crib and Childrens Christmas room
12:00pm Goldielocks and the Three Bears
1:45pm Goldielocks and the Three Bears
3:30pm Goldielocks and the Three Bears
12:45pm Storytelling for Children with Niall de Burca
2:30pm Storytelling for Children with Niall
4:15pm Storytelling for Children with Niall
1:00pm Horse and Carriage Rides
2:30pm European Christmas from Poland
12:00pm Outdoors at Christmas with The Mellowchords

ALL events are free of charge!!!!!!!!

The final Christmas Market that I will mention this week is the Red Stables Market at the Mount Prospect entrance to St Anne’s Park in
Clontarf. In addition to the regular Saturday markets, is hosting weekly food, arts and crafts markets on Saturdays, the Red Stables Market is hosting extra Sunday markets (All markets from 10:00-16:00).
www.redstables.ie

Phew, I promised a looong list, didn’t I? ;-)
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Every year the “Live Animal Crib” is open to the public outside Mansion House in Dawson Street. This year it will be there from the 10th and until Monday 24th. Admission is free (daily from 09:00-18:00), but donations to the Lord Mayor’s Fund are welcome.

Last week I mentioned that the “Sunday at Noon” series of concerts in the Hugh Lane gallery came to an end on the Sunday. This week I found a reference to another free “Sunday at Noon” event, however the Hugh Lane gallery’s website doesn’t mention it, so if you are interested, please ring  01-2225550 or +353872456971 before the weekend to find out if that concert is going ahead or not.
The Christmas Baroque Concert is an opportunity to hear 3 of the world’s finest baroque musicians when Maya Homburger, Malcolm Proud and Barry Guy return to the Hugh Lane Gallery for a Christmas Concert
The concert will feature:
Hymne (8th century) – Veni Creator Spiritus
H.I.F.Biber (1644-1704) – “Annunciation” from the Mystery Sonata No 1
Barry Guy – “Breathing Earth” violin and bass
J.S.Bach (1685-1750) – Sonata No 3 in E major
H.I.F. Biber (1644-1704) – “The Nativity” Sonata No 3 from the Mystery Sonatas
Barry Guy – “Inachis” solo violin and improvising
H.I.F. Biber (1644-1704) – “The Crucifixion” Sonata No 10 from the Mystery Sonatas
www.dublinevents.com/events/live-music/christmas-baroque-concert.php

A few weeks ago I informed you that to get to the Printing House Festival of New Music you need to book free tickets in advance. I hope you did that because the printing House Festival is this weekend. During the festival the music and influences of the American composer Morton Feldman will be the focus of the Festival. The festival takes place on the 15/16 of Dec in the Printing House in Trinity College. All information about the festival, venue and programme can be found on www.printinghousefestival.com. Booking for all concerts is now closed, but it is possible that tickets will become available shortly before each concert: please turn up at least 15 minutes before the advertised time to be added to the standby list.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral invites to “O Come All Ye Faithful” for Saturday evening (15/12) at 18:00. Come and Sing Christmas Carols with the Choir of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. The event is free and tickets are not required.
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I told you all about the Phoenix park guided walk “Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer”, which is organised by the deer keepers in Phoenix Park on Saturdays and Sundays before Christmas. I contacted the deer keepers this week and was urged to mention that ALL tours are completely booked out. They are offering an impressive 33 tours for the amazing total of approx. 1000 people!! Great to have such a brilliant FREE event. But obviously the demand is huge. So, please do not ring them anymore for this year!! (The people answering the phone can’t handle the call volume anymore.) …for next year, however, start ringing in October!! ;-)

This week our permanent free event “column” will take a break, the Event Guide is otherwise getting tooo big. The free permanent event will most likely be back next week, though. Remember that you can read previous Event Guides on my facebook page (www.facebook.com) (search in facebook for “Joerg Steegmueller”) and they contain the previously introduced “permanent free events”.

But I have a pre-announcement for an event during the week:
Dublin’s Gay & Lesbian Choir Gloria (www.gloria.ie) will present “Christmas Voices” on Tues 18th and Thurs 20st in St. Ann’s Church in Dawson Street at 20:00. Admission is free, however, be aware that St- Ann’s Church is VERY small and Gloria will have to apply a strict “first come- first in” policy and once the church is full, you won’t be able to get in.

And some bad news regarding a “permanent free event”, during last week I heard that the Natural Museum will stay closed for AT LEAST two years, probably even longer. You might remember that a stairs in the building collapsed some months ago. It was in an area that is not used by the public and I understand that the stairs got repaired again. However, there were some other modifications/renovations in the building planned and after the repair of the stairs the museum was meant to open again for a while but then close for the renovations. Now it has been decided that it will not open until all the works is completed. 2-3 years is a long time and it is a pity that the amazing Natural Museum is unavailable for such a long time!
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I will enjoy the Christmas Markets in Germany for the next few days, but I will be back in Ireland on Sunday evening. It means that you have to be my eyes and ears at the events this weekend! Let me know which one was good and which one wasn’t! :-)

Have a nice weekend!

–Joerg

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Disclaimer: This Event Guide (the “Dublin Event Guide”) with a
difference is sent to friends, colleagues and whoever else is
interested to let you know about (mostly free) events in the Greater
Dublin Area! Ticketed events usually make enough money to do their own
advertisement, they don’t need extra help.
I started this because some friends asked me to share my weekend plans
with them as I went to all types of festivals and searched for more.
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BTW: I have no affiliation with any of the organisers and don’t get
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