Junction Festival Cafes

Just back from a quick survey of the Junction Festival cafes.
This is an initiative where the organisers took over 5 vacant units in the town, turning them into themed cafes for the duration of the festival.
There are 5 cafes.
The Canine Cafe, in Market Place, is billed as “an urban social space for both species with canine and human cuisine, beds and chairs, water bowls, tea & coffee and a reading library.


This café only allows humans under dog supervision… otherwise you may glance at proceedings from a viewing area. This is a visual art project, a living studio, a social experiment and an inter-species meeting place all under one roof for the ten days of the Festival.”
It smelled a bit, but then most dog-lovers probably would not mind.

Next up was The Break Station.



This is billed as “A relaxed and vibrant space to chill out; a room full of dancers of different styles…..You can watch the action, be part of it, take a lesson or just chill out and relax and hang out with your gang and listen to some new tunes. Take a class in street dance styles such as krumping, house dance and old skool hip hop.”

Local dancers will collaborate with Upswing over the festival period to teach and curate the café with open mic sessions, dance classes and live dance events and performances.

This smelled a bit too 8), but again, not in a way that dedicated dancers would be unacquainted with!

The Writing Room where “writers, readers and booklovers of all age and size are invited to drop in for a selection of literature related activities” was busy when I called in, with a workshop underway discussing writing for film. About 20 people were engaged in discussion.

Whispering, so as not to interrupt, the staff offered me coffee, but time constraints meant I could not stay.
This looks like a nice Cafe, the setting in the old Angela’s Coffee Shop is good. I will revisit.



Shrine is on Mitchel St, and is based around the creation of a contemporary "Shrine”, in the form of a small Wooden House. The Shrine will be made up of donated jewellery, beads, broken chains, earrings, bangles and whatever people offer to be used for such the piece. Artist Patricia Looby (from Fethard originally) is putting it all together.



I did not get to the Robinsons’ Sunday Roadshow Cafe, which attempts to re-create life as lived by a northern Baptist family who moved to Dublin in the 1960’s. I will do at some stage.

All Cafes are open 11am-7pm form 4th-11th July incls. (except Sunday 2-5pm).

Anyone else with any views on the Junction Festival?

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Junction festival launch

Clonmel Junction Festival was launched in Hearn's Hotel last Thursday. The event was attended by more than 170 patrons, who got the details of the upcoming festival, which runs from July 4th to 12th.

Clonmel Chamber President, Tina Mulhearne, spoke at the launch about the magnificent work the festival does with children. She praised the work of the Participation Programme in local primary schools, which brings more than 300 children into contact with professional artists, producing a vibrant display of artistic installations, which will decorate the town during June and July.

Junction Festival has an extensive list of sponsors and patrons. Contributions come from all sectors of the business community and from individuals keen to support the event.

Festival Director David Teevan, who has worked unstintingly to develop the Junction Festival, said that the festival was now the envy of other festivals for the strong support it received from the local community. He said the programme for this year’s festival was nearly complete and work will begin soon on marketing and promoting the event.
“This will include a new web design, which we are very happy with, and several new initiatives to bring more visitors to the town during the week of the festival,” he said.“In addition to a full programme of theatre and music this year’s festival has several innovative projects which we believe will generate a lot of excitement”.
Regular updates on the festival will be posted on www.junctionfestival.com
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Clonmel Chamber Plan Music Festival

Clonmel Chamber of Commerce announced last week that it is working with a promoter to stage a large end of summer festival in Clonmel. This is just one of the initiatives conceived by the Chamber to promote Clonmel as a tourist attraction.

It is envisaged the music festival will comprise one main night of music entertainment as well as other ancillary events around the town associated with the festival.

This is in addition to the long running and successful Junction festival and will hopefully allow Clonmel become a regular venue for music and art festivals in the South East.

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