East Mayo town set to host gathering celebration across weekend in August

A Gathering Celebration “MacFest in the West” will take place in Swinford from Friday August 8 to Sunday August 10 next in association with www.mayo.ie. MacFest in the West is a gathering of the descendants of the McNicholas and MacDonagh families of Barnacogue and Curryaune, Swinford. 

The McNicholas/McDonagh Swinford story began when Owen McDonagh and Nora Morris of Tyrone migrated to Barnacogue at the turn of the 19th Century where Owen opened a Blacksmith forge. They had nine children, Kitty, Maria, Nancy, Patrick, Tom, John, Bryan, Judith and Margaret. Their daughter Judith McDonagh married Thomas McNicholas of Curryane settled in Barnacogue. It is believed that Thomas McNicholas’s family originated from Lismirrane, Bohola. Thomas and Judith had 8 children: Patrick, John, Mary, Michael, Bernard, Thomas, Martin and Honoria with some of who settled in Swinford, the UK, Pittsburgh and New York.

MacFest in the West is a reunion celebration, organised by Julie Doyle, Jackie O’Rourke and Joanne Kilroy of Swinford, who are descendants of Thomas and Judith McNicholas, in conjunction with www.mayo.ie.

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Event organiser Julie Doyle described MacFest as “a commemoration of our shared heritage in remembrance of all those incredible men and women who left Swinford and Mayo in search for a new life abroad, but their hearts remained at home. It is a celebration of our Swinford Story. We are thrilled to be able to welcome home to Swinford close to 100 McNicholas family descendants from across the US and the UK to Swinford for our celebration weekend.”

The event organisers have been working on the family genealogy record and invite any descendants of Owen McDonagh/Nora Morris (Barnacogue), Judith McDonagh (Barnacogue) andThomas McNicholas (Curryaune and Bohola) living locally to get in touch with them before the big event.

MacFest will encompass a packed schedule of events across the weekend. On Friday August 8, Swinford FC will play host to an U-10 visiting team from St Joseph’s Harrow, London for a soccer blitz followed later that evening by the event launch in The White House Swinford. Saturday August 9 is an action-packed day with a trip down memory lane to Barnacogue for the visiting diaspora. Later that day a commemorative mass for deceased family members of the McNicholas/McDonagh descendants will be held in Midfield School, following which Breege Rowley will screen her Documentary “All our Yesterdays”.

Saturday night will culminate with the Big Mac Reunion in Mellets, Swinford. On Sunday  August 10, the visiting diaspora will visit Knock Museum to discover all about life in Ireland in 1879. Over the course of the weekend, Tommy Stenson and Cathal Kelly of Swinford Chats Podcast will record a special episode of their podcast in association with www.mayo.ie with some of the members of the returning McNicholas/McDonagh diaspora to capture their stories and the stories of Swinford told to them across the generations.

The MacFest organisers would like to thank Mayo.ie for its support of the event and they look forward to sharing further details of the event.

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