Mayo Day 2020 on Saturday will offer a festival with a difference this year, combining a virtual reality mix of chat from home and abroad, ceol agus craic, food demos, arts and crafts, Mayo Quiz Day plus many competitions through live streams and content via Mayo.ie and also on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
In light of the social distancing restrictions imposed due to the Covid-19 crisis, rather than coming together to honour our people and our county, ‘Mayo Day 2020’ will provide an opportunity for families to celebrate online in the safe environs of our homes and gardens!
So, wear or fly the Green & Red as emblems of connections with one another – by placing flags in your windows, your gardens, or even tie green and red ribbons or scarves around your trees to show that We Stand With You our frontline workers from Mayo, home and abroad, who continue to work so hard and give up so much during this Covid-19 crisis.
Mayo Day 2020 will feature music and entertainment, similar to previous years’ events, but this time Mayo.ie will set the stage for Mayo Day Live – Global Voices, featuring performances from artists such as Lisa Canny, Cathal Gavin (our ‘Young Mayo Person of the Year’ for 2020) and Stuart Moyles, live from their own homes.
HOME AND AWAY: Mayo Day Live – Global Voices, presented by Liam Horan and Louise Duffy, will also feature interviews from Mayo people in communities from New York, Cleveland and Chicago to Malaysia, Dubai and Sydney, and closer to home, from our own Association and Mayo Associations in Galway and Manchester.
A MINUTE FOR MAYO: As part of a special campaign during the day ‘A Minute for Mayo’ will feature messages from national and international leaders and familiar Mayo faces who will grace the screen with messages of hope and solidarity on Mayo Day 2020.
SHOW OFF YOUR FOOTIE SKILLS! Two familiar faces from Mayo GAA team will perform their skills with an exclusive Mayo Day Skills Session which will air on Mayo.ie Facebook Page at 11am. All budding footballers should wear their colours and tag Mayo.ie in videos of their best attempts at replicating their heroes’ skills – the winning entry will receive a signed Mayo Day jersey!
CAPTURING MAYO’S MAGIC ON CAMERA: Mayo.ie will also highlight the many beautiful places with a collection of the most-loved images of Mayo shared on social media – to remind us all just how lucky we are to have so much on our doorsteps, which we can look forward to enjoying #WhenWeTravelAgain.
Walker looks towards Saddle Head from Croaghaun in Achill Island. (courtesy of Mayo.ie)
Mayo Day places a spotlight on our indigenous craft and food companies at our flagship event, and this year ‘Support Local’ will feature an online marketplace on Mayo.ie linking to companies who have online stores and are open for business during this time.
TAKE ME HOME TO MAYO: #HometoMayo is a competition to win two flights home to Mayo from anywhere around the world for someone you love, or indeed for yourself in better days ahead! To be in with a chance to win post a special moment of what Mayo means to you, or during the current period of restriction!
Your ‘Mayo Moment’ can be either photos and videos from your home with your family, your pets, your garden, your newly-sowed raised beds – all of these moments that form a very unusual time in our lives.
By sharing them you could share an even more special moment in 2021 with a loved one who is currently living abroad. The next instalment of the Mayo Day video ‘Our People, Our Place, Our Day’, which went viral worldwide in 2017, will be released on Wednesday 29 April just in time for #MayoDay2020.
Mayo Day 2020 promises to be something really special and remember always to use #MayoDay2020 when sharing your involvement as part of this annual day of celebration in bringing our county together as we remain apart for the foreseeable!