A dragon-led recovery: how a community is reaping the benefits of a spooky Halloween festival

In just over a decade, the Dragon of Shandon has become one of Ireland’s largest and best-known Halloween festivals. The annual event, led by Cork Community Artlink (CCAL), is a creative partnership between artists and local communities. Staged in Shandon in the city of Cork, the festival takes advantage of the atmospheric backdrop provided by the inner-city neighbourhood’s heritage buildings and streets. The event centrepiece is a ten-metre-long dragon, which stalks Shandon’s streets accompanied by a cast of ghosts and ghouls drawn from surrounding communities and celebrating local myths, legends and history. Festivals like the Dragon of Shandon are becoming more prominent features of cultural landscapes around the world. Ranging from small street fairs to extravagant spectacles in city centres, urban festivals can generate positive returns for entire cities and local urban areas.