WITH the Rose of Tralee International Festival just over a week away, it’s worth a re-cap on how the entertainment in the Square is going to work this year.

There will be 84 hours of entertainment in The Square over the duration of the extended festival, but only 15 hours of this will controlled by a ticket system.

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Organisers say the general public will be restricted from accessing The Square at certain times to ensure control of numbers to artists who potentially would have a large following and, as has been the case since 2011, to help towards the increased street entertainment €330,000 expenditure budget.

The nights where people will need tickets to enter the Square are on the Wednesday night (The Academic), Thursday night (The Ronan Collins Showband Show), Friday night (Hometown and Reggie n Bollie), Sunday night (Hudson Taylor and Hermitage Green) and Monday night (Nathan Carter).

The key request from festival organisers to the general public is to cooperate with the Volunteers who have given their time, free of charge, to ensure that everyone enjoys the festival in comfort and safety.

The all-weather Saddle-span Dome Roof over the stage in The Square will create a more ambient and chilled vibe to the evening concerts at the venue, five of which are controlled by ticket and the remaining two (Sat 20th & Tue 23rd) free to the public.

How will festival-goers access The Square?

The entrance to The Square during security ticket control times is located via the North West corner, next to Carraig Donn, with an exit only to the north east (next to Dan Fitzgerald’s) and south west (next to An Cearnóg).

Access to businesses will be restricted at these times (after 7pm), while provisions have been made with some businesses located on the corners of The Square to have controlled public access into their premises.

Security and Festival management will endeavour to facilitate the public as much as is practicable and, as has been the case in recent years during ticketed events on Denny Street, patrons of businesses in The Square have been asked to take note of the times when security controls will be in place.

Full details of all entertainment acts due to perform in The Square – day and night – are available from www.roseoftralee.ie and on Facebook.

The Event Controller, Bryan Carr, said: “The Festival must adhere to strict risk assessed guidelines including legislation regarding control and management of events both indoor and outdoor. While we appreciate people may have concerns in relation to these events; rest assured that just as previous Festivals we want to ensure another safe and incident free festival for visitors and local alike to enjoy. We would like to thank all the businesses in advanced for their continued support of the Festival and we ask the general public to support and promote our Festival to make it a successful and safe event for 2016.”