Pigtown festival in Limerick celebrates everything but the squeal!

STARTING on September 17, the Pigtown festival 2020 will run until the end of October with a host of dining events and more, to celebrate Limerick’s food culture, its food producers, and famous food heritage.

Developed by the Limerick Food Group and supported by Limerick City & County Council, the theme of this year’s festival is ‘Support Local’ - with many businesses fighting for survival this year, it is more important than ever to support local producers, market traders, and restaurants.

2020 may have seen the cancellation of many events and festivals, but the people behind the Pigtown Culture & Food Series, Limerick’s leading food festival, are determined to give locals and ‘staycationers’ something to enjoy.

Pigtown is organised by Limerick Food Group, a voluntary non-profit group from industry working together to promote Limerick food.

One of the organising committee and head chef at No. 1 Pery Square, Keith Piggot, explained: "We had to make some changes to our festival programme this year, obviously we are missing the annual Culture Night Pigtown Parade that would usually kick off the festival, but hopefully that will be back next year. We have a big focus on dining events for 2020 celebrating local produce, with a few online surprises in store too so keep an eye on our social media.”

The festival opens with the Pigtown dinner at the Mustard Seed restaurant in Ballingarry on Thursday September 17.

Other dining events include the Pigtown dinner in the River Restaurant at the Strand Hotel every Friday from September 18 -October 30; Daily Pigtown special at 1826 Adare from September 23 - 27; Pigtown dinner at the East Room Restaurant on Thursday September 24; Pigtown specials at the Cornstore Restaurant every Thursday from September 24 - October 29; Pigtown pinxtos at No.1 Pery Square on Thursday October 15; and more to be announced.

For the duration of the festival, The Limerick Strand Hotel are offering ‘The Little Piggy’ Package which features one night B&B and locally sourced Pigtown-themed dinner, and includes a tour of Treaty City Brewery.

The Milk Market would usually play a big part in the festival, hosting cooking demos and food tours, but this year Pigtown wants to remind people that one of the most famous Farmer’s Markets in Ireland takes place every Saturday morning in the heart of our city with its quality food traders and unique atmosphere.  

Along with that, a new second Saturday market has been launched with crafts and plants at the Potato Market. On Saturday September 19 at 11am to 4pm, Pigtown’s Giant Piggy will visit the Potato Market for Pigtown2020 so families will get the opportunity to see Piggy in this open air market on Merchant’s Quay.

For full details on this year’s festival programme and booking links to the dining events visit the website at pigtown.ie and look out for updates on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.