The St Patrick's Festival will move out of Dublin for the first time this year with a fireworks, music and light display at the Rock of Cashel.
The National Lottery Skyfest event is usually held at the Dublin Docklands but festival chief executive Donal Shiels said that the organisers wanted to live up to the title of a national festival this year.
"We wanted to do something that gave that sense of not just being Dublin. The Rock of Cashel is probably the most identifiable location in Ireland and we want to illuminate that site and celebrate it," he said. "There's no major plan to make it a permanent thing but we just thought it would be worth doing."
Last year's Skyfest was cancelled in Dublin because of high winds and heavy rain so organisers will be hoping for better weather in Tipperary this year.
"It's Ireland so you run that risk of coming up against the weather but we're hardened at this stage," Mr Shiels said.
The five-day festival programme was launched by Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism Séamus Brennan in Dublin last night. He said this year's parade already promised to be one of the largest and most successful in the world, with more than 4,000 participants. It will take two hours to pass any point along the way.
"The vision of the festival is to celebrate Ireland and to celebrate it at home and abroad," he said.
Mr Brennan said he was particularly pleased to see that the family had been placed at the centre of this year's festival.
One of the festival highlights is The Pearl, John Steinbeck's tale performed by the giant inflatable characters of French street theatre company Plasticiens Volants in Dublin's Docklands.
Mr Shiels said organisers had been trying to bring the company to Dublin for several years. "Definitely you've never seen a show like this in Ireland before," he said. "This is the first time an inflatable performance of this magnitude or scale has been performed here."
Another new event is Baby Rave, a music and dance event for children under four. This is a real rave, complete with DJ, music, lighting and projections but it will include dance facilitators and sensory floor coverings. It will be held in the restored SS Michael and John's Church in Temple Bar.
Other family events include the Denny Big Day Out at Merrion Square, which has been described as an oversized playground for adults and children. The Denny Treasure Hunt and the Céilí Mór will also be repeated this year.
GaelSpraoi, which promotes the Irish language, will include workshops, tours, gigs and film, suitable for all ages.
Some 16 marching bands will take part in this year's parade which has the theme "energy". As usual there will be a strong American presence at the parade but Japan and Italy will also be represented.
Details of the events are on the website www.stpatricksfestival.ie.
