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St. Patrick's Festival 2024

Official Partner

Kia are delighted to return as the Official Electrified Vehicle Partner of St. Patrick's Festival for 2024 for the third consecutive year.

We'll be collaborating with pageant specialists Bui Bolg to produce 4 distinct pageants, containing 5 floats, to represent the brand's electrification and sustainability strategy. Over 60 performers will interact and delight audiences along the route. Overall performance to be choreographed by 4 different performing arts groups.

At Festival Quarter in Collins Barracks, Kia will create a display made entirely from recycled materials and powered by solar paneled batteries, to showcase the use of upcycled materials in the production of the new EV9.

Building on the success of the past two years, Kia are collaborating with bespoke pageant building specialists Bui Bolg, who will produce four dedicated parade pageants, consisting of five floats on their behalf.

These pageants, which have been commissioned by more than 10 artists and makers in line with Kia’s electrification and sustainability strategy, will convey the brand’s ambition to become a sustainable mobility solutions provider. Kia will support this year’s festival with their full fleet of electric vehicles including the New EV9, EV6 & Niro EV which will assist the celebrations of arts, culture, and heritage around Dublin City from March 15th – 18th. In addition, 60 performers will interact and delight audiences on the route while the overall performance will be choreographed by four different performing arts groups.

  • “Apart from being one of Ireland's leading electric vehicle brands, we have made a commitment to sustainability by placing it at the core of our business strategy. As more and more Irish drivers switch to electric vehicles, we are always looking for ways to inform the public about such strategies. By 2030, Kia will have 20% of all vehicle plastics coming from recycled materials. Our EV9, which will lead our parade pageant, uses 10 specifically sourced sustainable items in vehicle production that have either originated from recycled plastic, or have been sourced from plant-based materials. These materials will be used in all future Kia models also, so it’s an exciting time for our brand, and we are delighted to share this story with parade goers on the streets of Dublin, those tuning in on television our visiting our Festival Quarter activation.” -
    Cathal Kealey, Head of Marketing & PR at Kia Ireland 
     

As part of Kia’s brand vision to provide sustainable mobility solutions along with a commitment to be carbon neutral by 2045, this four-part pageant will explore the electrification and sustainability credentials of the brand in whats called the ‘What Powers Us’ pageant. The first section will consist of vhicle procession and a showcase of the New Kia EV9 in specially designed festival livery. Section two covers the Circular Economy and highlights Kia’s partnership with the Ocean Cleanup and their work to remove plastic from the ocean, while also recycling and upclycling this waste for use in vehicle production. Section three is an innovation section that plays on the overall theme of the festival – spréach (or spark). This pageant will replicate the use of atoms and electrons to highlight the power behind Kia electric vehicle range.The fourth and final section is simply called the ‘WOW factor’ and highlights the use of Kia’s innovative technology. This will be the largest parade pagent ever seen in the St. Patricks Festival parade in Dublin, standing at over 6metres tall, the clever design will overcome the usual height restrictions of the Luas lines by adjusting and adapting along the route.

Buí Bolg Youth Arts based in Wexford transforms and re-imagines spaces, through spectacular installations, large scale community events and street art performances which turn the ordinary into the extraordinary. St. Patrick’s Festival is made possible through the continued support of the Government of Ireland, the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Fáilte Ireland, Dublin City Council, and many generous partners and funders.

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