Around this time every year, a happy convergence of events causes Galway to erupt in a sunburst of excitement and activity. The Galway Races are a perennial effusion of roistering fun and good times that have been drawing multitudes from afar every summer for more than a century.
Newer and more sophisticated in its appeal is the Galway Arts Festival. Since it started 26 years ago, the festival has become a resonant and highly pleasurable experience which people look forward to every year.
Another annual occurrence, the Oyster Festival with its pearls and porter, evokes the spirit of the sea that crashes onto the rocky shores of Connemara and the Aran Islands, and which played such a romantic role in the history of Galway.
These happenings have made Galway famous and so, too, has the Druid Theatre Company which emerged from humble beginnings in the Jesuit school auditorium to march across the international stage while thousands cheered.
All these have become an intrinsic part of Galway life and embody the lively, upbeat spirit that makes the city such a fascinating place in which to live.
They have added a frisson of culture, gaiety and sophistication that is rare in other places.
The former chief executive of Galway Chamber of Commerce Jarlath Feeney puts it this way: "Galway has become known as not only a good place in which to work, but also a good place to live and to have fun. All this time it has had this wonderful natural location looking out on Galway Bay with its sunsets - just waiting to be loved."
There's lots to love not only in Galway but all over the wild and wonderful landscape of Connacht stretching along the Atlantic from the Burren up to the Yeats Country in Sligo, all corralled by the mighty Shannon sweeping down its eastern boundary.
Cromwell drove the native Irish westward across the Shannon into what he imagined could only be a hell on earth. He should be around today in a place like Galway city with its lively and optimistic air, modern bistros and cafes, fashionable shops, bustling and confident young citizens commanding good money in good jobs and looking to the future with a bright eye.
Jarlath Feeney says industries want to locate in Galway because they know it's a place where their employees would enjoy living. "The industries are following the people now rather than the people following the industries. Galway has a university, is located by the sea, has theatres, schools, health-care services, a low crime rate, access by air, train and road and an unpolluted atmosphere.
"These represent the important elements of what people want in their lives. All this makes it much easier to promote Galway as a place for investment because industry is saying: 'People want to live here and if we locate here, we can get the employees that we want'."
Over the past seven years or so the number of people working directly in industrial jobs in Galway has doubled to 10,000 and could grow close to 20,000 by the end of the decade. They're finding that the style of life in Galway and in the west generally has so many advantages over a place such as, say, Dublin.
For one thing, the pressures of modern-day urban life are not impelling people towards nervous breakdowns. The cost of homes has been caught in the national upward spiral, but it's still cheaper to buy a house west of the Shannon than on the east coast, and prices are starting to come down.
In the practical matter of bringing up families, there are first rate educational facilities including the NUI Galway, colleges of technology in Galway, Mayo and Sligo and a plethora of secondary schools all over Connacht.
As for relaxation and recreation, the west is in the demi-paradise class: the best fishing lakes and rivers in these islands, marvellous beaches, islands that retain a mystical link with the past, untouched hills, mountains and valleys with scenery that would take your breath away. Sadly, the weather is just as capricious as anywhere else in the country.
