Countdown to Castlepalooza!
Just sixteen days remain until festival revellers descend on Charleville Castle, Tullamore, for one of the most anticipated festivals of the year! Castlepalooza... dubbed "the best little music festival in Ireland" by the Sunday Business Post, and "Gem of a festival... lauded by camaraderie, small size and wealth of Irish acts" by The Irish Times is definitely not one to be missed! And with 3 day camping tickets starting from €50, it is for sure the best value festival on our fair isle!
In preparation for the fun packed Music & Arts festival, we have a sixteen day countdown preparation guide, to ensure festival goers have the best craic...
Day 1: Tickets - Just over two weeks remain until the festival kicks off, have you got your tickets? If you're strapped for cash, numerous competitions have been running around the country and you may just be lucky and win some from Entertainment.ie...
Day 2: Playlists - Ireland's newest music streaming service, Deezer are one of the sponsors of this years Castlepalooza and will be trailing the grounds of Charleville Castle with their very own Deezer Mobile Disco bringing exclusive parties to groups of festival revellers over the weekend, check out their website and sign up to a free trial and access their 18 million tracks. Create your perfect playlist for the trip to Tullamore!
Day 3: Getting There - Travel is easy to and from Tullamore with road access on the M6 motorway and regular buses & trains leaving from Dublin, Galway, Cork & Limerick. For more info check out www. castlepalooza.com/info
Day 4: Arrival - Your weekend is yours to enjoy when you arrive, but to help you along, this nifty map may come in handy. Save it to your smartphone for instant access...
Day 5: Cash & Cards – Festival cash machines tend to charge you for use and also have large queues. To save wasting time once you’ve arrive, it’s best to get cash out before you go, but keep it safe and split it up into a few chunks in different bags and pockets.
Day 6: Keys – An obvious one, but easily forgotten and it’s not particularly nice to get home from a festival and find yourself locked out. Leave a spare pair with your neighbour, if you don’t trust yourself to remember.
Day 7: Raincoat / Waterproofs – A must for Irish festivals, you never know what’s going to happen with the weather. Venues are likely to sell ponchos anyway, but they can be thin, poorly made and expensive, so it’s better to take your own.
Day 8: Wellies – Navigating huge mud marshes is harder than it looks and you will ruin your shoes or trainers if you don’t take a pair.
Day 9: Phone – Fully charged and primed with all your friends’ digits. It’s likely to run out if you use it a lot, so try and stick to texts and leave it switched off while you sleep to save those vital bars.
Day 10: Toothbrush & Toothpaste – You can get those little finger toothbrushes now, which are really handy for saving space and are dispensable too. It you’re going in a big group, it might make more sense to just share things like toothpaste, to save everyone bringing it.
Day 11: Deodorant / Anti-perspirant – Again, travel-sized sprays are easy to pick up.
Day 12: Flag – It’s so easy to lose your tent, even if you know what area it’s in. A big flag to stick in the ground by your base is perfect for finding your way back in both day and night.
Day 13: Blanket – For throwing down in front of your tent to sit, picnic and sunbathe on... (Lets pray for the sunbathing!!)
Day 14: Line up - The complete line up is available from www.castlepalooza.com - work out your favourite artists who you want to see and organise a schedule so you don't go home saddened by the fact you missed THE gig!
Day 15: Getting home - Those using the trains and buses, make sure you know the correct stations and where to go when you arrive. When you arrive, grab a map of the site and mark on it exactly where your tent is located and where your car is parked if you’ve brought one.
Day 16: Contraception - Because you never know, be safe kids...
Lastly..... ENJOY!