It’s that time of year again – the 2011 Irish Blog Awards held next weekend in Belfast are nearly upon us, and with that begins a round of social events for the biggest night on the Irish blogging calendar! Get your date books iPhones out – here’s what has been announced and I will add to this list as more events are finalised!

The IBA Belfast Photowalk organised by Davy McDonald kicks off at noon and is a great way to tour Belfast while meeting new people and taking your camera for a spin. Don’t be inimidated – you can shoot using anything from your in-pocket iPhone to your huge DSLR!
Saturday, 19 March, 11:45 am – Belfast City Hall
Info | Signup

Walter Higgens is organising a pre-event meal called Blog Awards Bites with an open table booked for 12 at paul Rankin’s Cayenne. Meal price is £18.50 and you can sign up online; everyone’s welcome!
Saturday, 19 March, 5 pm – Cayenne Restaurant
Info | Signup

The ever-fabulous Ladies Tea Party (where by “tea” we mean “wine, and lots of it”) is all set to go and includes food, drink, dessert and swanky swag bags at £20 per head. Its open to all bloggers, wanna be bloggers and dedicated blog readers and draws a friendly, welcoming crowd!
Saturday, 19 March, 5 pm – Harlem Cafe
Info | Signup

I thought it would be fun to get some Twitter and bloggy-type people together to go to the Street Performance World Championships in Fitzgerald’s Park. It’s free and looks like a nice day out if the weather holds. Since the park is only an eight-minute walk from our house and there’s plenty of parking here on weekends, I’m nominating our front doorstep as the meeting place.

Come by yourself, come with the kids, come with the dogs, come with a hangover, come with an umbrella!

This plan is simplicity itself. Turn up at 18 Gilabbey Street, Cork, at 12 noon on Saturday, 13 June. Have a pee if you need one (not on the doorstep.) Walk to the park in a conga line, enjoy the entertainment, take photos, tweet if you want to, and piss off to the pub afterwards if you’re so inclined.

A few caveats. One: I know nothing about this event other than that it is on and sounds fun. Talk to @spwc. Two: All the pubs in that neighbourhood are dire; we’ll be walking 8 minutes back down the road to Thirsty’s or the one next door with a garden if it’s nice. Three: If it’s raining, this will be re-scheduled for Sunday in the hope of better weather. Four: There probably won’t actually be a conga line.

If you’re planning to come along, it would be helpful if you popped your intentions into the comment box here so that we know to wait for you if we need to. Also if the forecast calls for Saturday downpours, I’ll be able to email folks to let them know. Thanks :)