Limerick Pride festivities to kick off with Rainbow River event
THE Limerick LGBTQ Pride Festival will kick off this weekend with an event on the river Shannon.
Rainbow River will see more than 80 swimmers from the Limerick Narwhals swim from the Curraghgower Boat Club followed by sailboats, paddle boats and kayaks.
“It’s great to be teamed up with the swimmers again, and to get everyone out in the water and celebrate Limerick city. The river Shannon is the heartbeat of Limerick city, so why not get it pulsing with all the rainbows in it,” said Lisa Daly, Chairperson of Limerick Pride.
“We are so grateful for everyone who supports Limerick LGBTQ Pride Festival year-on-year, and we are so happy to have the support of local and national organisations, we would like to thank Bus Éireann for supporting the Rainbow River Swim Parade,” she added.
Mark Dempsey of Limerick Narwhals added: “They came up with a great idea where we can swim, we could pick up swimming.
Then when they said it would be the only swim of Pride outside of Amsterdam, in the world, that kind of went ‘oh yeah, Narwhals love doing their things first’ so we all got together, and now we’re here again.”
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Ireland and the theme of this year's festival is ‘United in Solidarity’.
“When we march up O’Connell Street on Saturday, July 8, we will be marching in honour of our brothers and sisters who came before us and laid the path for our freedom,” Lisa explained.
The Rainbow River event takes place on Saturday, June 24 at 10am.