The 2010 KAM Mardi Gras will take place at Kinvara Community Centre, Co Galway on Saturday Feb 13th. This year’s party is a charity event, featuring 3 live bands, dancing, food, licensed bar and a fancy dress parade with prizes! All proceeds will go to South Galway Flood Relief and the Gort Family Resource Centre. The fun starts at 8pm sharp, and admission is a recession friendly E10, E20 Family Ticket or E8 Concessions/Members. So what IS Mardi Gras? It’s a kind of carnival originating in New Orleans involving parties, parades, music and general merriment. The carnival traditionally begins on January 6th and the festivities climax on ‘Fat Tuesday’ (Mardi Gras) the day before Ash Wednesday (more familiarly known to us as Shrove Tuesday or ‘Pancake Day’). It is scheduled to occur 46 days before Easter; since the actual date of Easter changes yearly, Mardi Gras can occur on any Tuesday between February 3 and March 9. (Or in this case, on Saturday Feb 13th..!) Last year’s event was a great success, with 5 bands, Louisiana chicken gumbo, face painting, a licensed Bar and lots of dancing! This year we aim to carry on that good-time carnival tradition, with 3 Live Bands (with the emphasis firmly on music you can DANCE to!) finger lickin’ carnival food, a Fancy Dress competition (oh come on, you know you want to!) and a full bar, in an intimate table set venue, complete with dance floor. Providing the beats to move your feets this year, we have Awsum Adudu, an Afro-Funk band hailing from Gort, Co Galway. These boys have been on the scene for a number of years and we are delighted to have them make their KAM debut at the Mardi Gras. We would like to extend a warm welcome to all members of the Gort and surrounding community; come on down and support your local boys and (more importantly) join the fun! Even closer to home we have the Kinvara based Analogue Band, featuring a bunch of well known local musicians who have put together this country and traditional rock band, also making their debut Kam appearance. If two debut bands isn’t fresh enough for you, let’s make it 3! Gone To Grass are a locally based Bluegrass band, presenting a lively mix of driving traditional bluegrass tunes and original Americana material. Also on the night, carnival food, a fully licensed bar and a Fancy Dress Parade, with prizes awarded for the best efforts. It’s been a harsh winter; let’s banish the winter blues for a night, kick off the wellies and pull on the dancing shoes! (Dancing in wellies optional.. but don’t expect a prize) Mardi Gras is a fun, family friendly event held in a Community Centre and featuring local musicians and volunteers coming together to put on an event in aid of local causes.. But you don’t have to be local to come and join the fun! Where else are you gonna get this much fun for a tenner, and get the feel good factor of knowing that your good night out is also aiding Galway flood victims and the local Family Resource Centre? Kam Mardi Gras: Let’s party! More info, and tickets, available at the KAM website; http://www.kamcollective.com/ Tickets are available in advance from; Kam (website above) Healing Harvest, Kinvara (091 637 176) Open Sesame, Gort (091 632778) Gort Credit Union (091 631250) Kinvara Credit Union (091 637154) and at the Gort Family Resource Centre (091 630902) (Why not take the opportunity on the night to join Kam? Benefits include discount entry to all Kam events, which include a myriad of music, theatre and spoken word events throughout the year. See above website for details)
KAM is the Kinvara Area Music Collective, which is a voluntary community group which was set up with the intention of nurturing and maintaining the vibrant local music scene. You don’t have to be a musician to join!
KAM’s Vision: A thriving, diverse and inclusive music scene in Kinvara. KAM’s Mission: To maintain a lively and creative forum to support and help develop musical activities in Kinvara.
Every year, we at KAM like to throw a Mardi Gras party to celebrate our birthday, have a community event with music, dancing, food, drink and (optional!) fancy dress to raise funds for a local cause. This year the very worthy causes are flood relief in South Galway, and the Gort Family Resource Centre.