The City’s historic Walls set the spooky scene for the launch, and will once again feature in the festivities as one of the haunted hotspots in this year’s Awakening the Walled City Trail.
The programme is delivered by Derry City and Strabane District Council and funded by Tourism Northern Ireland and The Executive Office, with support from Ulster University.
The world-renowned Derry Halloween celebrations will take over the city from October 28th until October 31st, with a packed programme of fun events and activities for all ages. The core festival programme will run Monday October 28th – 31st with the Awakening the Walled City Trail transforming the town centre from Monday - Wednesday, from 6pm – 9pm, and plenty of festivities taking place throughout Halloween day, October 31st, culminating in the dazzling Halloween Carnival Parade and fireworks over the Foyle.
There are a number of exciting new elements included in this year’s programme, which is now available to view online. Among the highlights is the debut appearance of the weird and wonderful Rodafonio, created by renowned designer and musician Cesar Alvarez and brought all the way from Barcelona. Also adding an international flavour to the festivities are the Stelzen-Art Time Travellers, bringing their enchanting illuminations all the way from Germany to the city’s Cathedral Quarter.
The City Walls are once again a stage for magic and mayhem this year, and visitors will witness all sorts of spectacles in the Witchy Wonderland created by In Your Space Circus. The ramparts will provide the perfect atmospheric backdrop for some dazzling fire performance and ghostly goings on.
The Guildhall Production Studio, part of the famed Guildhall School of Music & Drama, make a welcome return animating two of the city centres famous landmarks, the Austins Building and the Bishop Street Courthouse, with some bespoke installations bringing to life some well-known Derry ghost stories.
Then cross the Peace Bridge to enter the ethereal Elemental Garden, an ambient and mesmerising celebration of darkness and light, as visualised by landscape spectacle specialists LUXE.
Looking ahead to the festival, Mayor of Derry and Strabane, Councillor Lilian Seenoi Barr said: “Derry just comes alive at Halloween and it really is a wonderful time to experience all the City and District has to offer in terms of hospitality and entertainment. It’s great to see the City’s famous Walls once again showcased in the Awakening the Walled City Trail event, which creates such a buzz around the city centre, bringing great benefit to local businesses in the build up to Halloween itself.
“I’m delighted to see some fabulous new elements to this year’s programme and I know the decreasing funding support makes this a real challenge for Council’s Festivals and Events team. Well done to Council and all our partners for creating such a diverse and exciting programme with some world class entertainment to look forward to.”
This year a number of live music events will also be taking place at venues across the city, as well as ghastly ghost tours, haunted houses, spooky story-telling and creepy arts and crafts. Halloween favourites Spark will once again be making some noise during the festival, with a banging performance that never fails to draw the crowds.
The wider programme events taking place across the City and District include the Castlederg Apple Fair taking place on October 25th and 26th, and the Scarecrow Trail in Newtownstewart. There will also be a wide range of events and activities taking place in Strabane town centre.
Halloween night itself sees the return of the Halloween Carnival Parade featuring hundreds of local performers from local clubs, schools and community organisations, who are now working with the North West Carnival Initiative to bring this year’s ‘Festival of the Dead’ theme to life. It all culminates in a blaze of colour over the Foyle as the annual Halloween Fireworks display brings the festival to a close.
Looking ahead to the programme, Ciaran Doherty, Head of Regions at Tourism Northern Ireland, said: “Tourism NI is delighted to be once again supporting the Derry Halloween event. The festival sets Derry firmly as the `Home of Halloween’, highlighting the Celtic origins of Halloween and the city’s rich artistic, historical, cultural and architectural offering.
“The programme this year continues to offer bespoke and quirky events with wide appeal to key tourism markets, increasing international visitor footfall outside of peak season. The festival is projected to attract more than 88,000 visitors, create more than 10,670 bed nights and attract more than 1,000 participants.”
You can find out more about all that’s going on this year at Derry Halloween at derryhalloween.com
