SKYFEST AND PARADE BRING OUT SMILES ON A DULL DAY

CASHEL ST. PATRICK'S FESTIVAL SHINES ON A DULL DAY



"When we were getting things sorted around 10 am this morning we thought Oh no it's the curse of the red bull again" Sean Laffey Chair of the St. Patrick's Parade told us. The reference of course to the time when Red Bull flew into town and were grounded on their big day due to unseasonal wet weather.
But, as they say the show must go on, a gazebo was found to house the sound desk, extra cables were rigged from the old town hall, tens of euros of phone calls were made and then as if by magic noon came and the festival began taking shape.

It seemed as if Laffey and his blue Toyota Previa were on the road constantly (practical vehicle for rural Ireland, he assures us). He made trips for tables and chairs for the reviewing platform, carried hundreds of bottles of water and generally was to be seen going against the flow of the traffic. "We were really ambitious this time out" said Laffey, "with the National Lottery Sky Fest in town we knew we had to do something a bit extra, the usual parade where we all pack up and go home by 3 pm wouldn't have been an option this year."
The committee rolled up their sleeves and in a very short time had allocated three times last year's budget to a festival that would effectively spread across the weekend. Sean Leahy stage manager for the bijou Plaza stage told us that the new town square was a nice place for an open air gig, even if it was more restrictive than what had gone before, "I just hope we get a bit of decent weather so the bands can play to a sizable crowd, that way it'll feel like we are really running a festival."
First entertainment of the day was the local Comhaltaas Ceili dancers who performed in front of the reviewing platform, always a difficult task and a dangerous one too as the Gardai were late to close the roads this year.
The main event was the ever popular St.Patrick's Parade and the entry this year was way up on previous years, in fact probably the biggest of the revival period. The usual mix of satirical comment, historical comedy and dance displays were added to this year by a number of vintage vehicles including The Wild Geese who present the story of the Irish Army complete with period NATO Vehicles. Tbe regular Army were there too courtesy of the 31st Cavalry Brigade. All this was co-ordinated by Chief Steward Tommy Butler, who is some cool customer, he does it all without a mobile phone.

For the record this years prize winners are:
1st Overall Cashel Tidy Towns
2nd Overall Clonoulty Vintage
3rd Overall Spafield Resource Centre
4th Overall Cashel Pantomine Society
5th Overall Boherlane Comogie Club
6th Overall Black Smith
7th Overall Rosegreen Juvenile G A A

SHOP WINDOW
1st Prize O Dwyers Shop Friar Street
2nd Prize Tower and Office Supplies
3rd Prize Dundrum Flowers Centre

Highly Commended Certs
Cutting Edge
Darcy Hardware
Second Chance
Scalazell
Mrs. Quinn Charity Shop
Ryans Daughter Ladyswell

BEST PUB
Mikey Ryans
Highly Commended
Lonergans Bar
Feehans Bar

As soon as the parade made its final curve around the Old Town Hall corner, the Plaza Stage kicked into life and drew a nice crowd from the get go. Brave souls they were too as the weather continued to drench them for most of the afternoon. Until that is Two Time Polka took to stage and the sun at long last broke through the clouds, the perfect atmosphere for the cajuns from Cork.

From 6:30 until 8;30 there was a little matter of the Cashel SkyFest and a crowd estimated around 40,000 who endured muddy conditions to witness one of the most spectacular fireworks displays you'll ever see. Unfortunately the weather could have been kinder , low winds, low cloud and drizzle meant that the fireworks didn't appear as crisp as they might if they had been shot into a frosty sky. The low wind meant that smoke hung around the site for too long and it was difficult to see the ancient buildings through the smoke. Very few newspapers carried good photos of the fireworks over the next few days, most printed shots were of the light show which did work very well in the weather conditions.
After the fireworks the crowd dispersed easily and in good humour. Those that were left in town for a night's fun , could find plenty to occupy their time, a fair ground did a roaring trade and the pubs all reported a major upswing in business. The live stage on the plaza continued with Foul Play headlining the late slot with an excellent blues rock show, and when all that was done there was another four hours of entertainment in Halla Na Feile with ex-Thin Lizzy bass player Brush Shiels as the featured artist.
We caught up with Laffey after the gig, it was heading towards 3 am and he'd just been roped into do a bit of taxi driving. " What a geat day" he said oblivious to his condition, a suit covered in mud , and looking deservedly tired. We asked him why do folks volunteer for these gigs?
"I suppose we all have our own reasons, I like to see a plan coming together and to get the instant buzz of knowing what you've worked on has actually happened. What might have been a list of stuff to do scribbled on the back of a cereal box at breakfast, something that has needed negotiation, patience and that old fashioned word cunning, its taken months, then you can sit back and say - it has finally worked out. Others, well they tell me its just so much more fun being active backstage rather than passive out in front . I used to say, and I think it's still true, I do this sort of thing so my kids will have good memories of the place they grew up in. They'll be able to start a number of sentences with " Do you remember when Dad..."
"That might not be the whole reason I do it though. This afternoon I asked my 13 year old son, would he like to work in the events industry " "God No" he said "It just looks like a load of hassle to me!"
"Maybe I'll have to find another excuse for getting involved next year"

Will there be a Skyfest next year?

" I honestly couldn't tell you as that's a decision that will be taken elsewhere. I'd love to see it back, and I've already loads of ideas how we could link in with it. We'll have a team meeting soon and we can see where things didn't quite work this year, we can tweak a few things for next time. I'd certainly like to get more teenagers involved next time, after all I have one of my own who needs to be occupied! We do all this on a shoestring budget and it's voluntary team work that pulls it together. Hey and whether we have the Skyfest or not we'll have a St. Patrick's Day Parade."











THE BRUSH IS BACK
FOR HALLA CRAIC


The forthcoming Cashel St. Patrick’s Weekend is turning into something of a seasonal festival with the return of the very popular entertainer Brush Shiels to Halla Na Feile on Saturday 15h of March.

In a major effort of committee co-ordination and co-operation, the Chamber of Trade and Tourism, Cashel Heritage Trust and the Patrick’s Parade organizers are all rowing in to ensure that there will be plenty to do over the Patrick’s weekend.

Irene Doyle, Chair of the Cashel Chamber said “ We are delighted that Skyfest will be with us on the 15th of March and we are keen that both locals and visitors alike will have plenty to do in Cashel before, during and after the National Lottery fireworks event.

“We are expecting very large crowds and it should be a huge boost to Cashel’s trade and tourism. What we want to do is ensure there will be plenty on in town to keep our customers on our doorsteps, and we want to
give everyone a wonderful day to add to the great value that Skyfest has brought to Cashel ” She told us.

The town will be open for business all day, but parking will be at a premium. For safety reasons the route of the parade needs to be lined with barriers, especially in the main street, customers are kindly asked to park off the street if at all possible and cars will be moved on from 12 noon. Once the parade begins the roads will be closed to traffic and will not open until after 3pm.

Marching groups should assemble in the Rock car park by Bru Boru from 12:30. Motorised entries should park along the Dublin Road also from 12:30. The Parade will move out at 1:30pm. Any groups who would like to enter the parade should contact PJ Quinlan on 086 839 7234.

Sean Leahy who is managing the stage performances for the Patrick’s Parade told us that there will be a series of free events on the CTC stage in the town plaza, that will run during the day to about 6:30 with a break for the fireworks. The town will come to life as soon as the last sky-rocket falls
to earth and he told us we can expect two hours of free on street entertainment running up to 10pm.

At ten o’clock the doors will open on Halla Na Feile for the welcome return of Brush Shiels, with a late night disco too. “He’s the perfect act for the night” said Sean, “with his long rock pedigree and his legendary sense of humour, it promises to be a fun way to finish off the Saturday night’s
activities.”

When asked about the street shows Sean said he was programming the events to showcase some of the best Cashel bands with Gasoline Rainbow and Philip Donnelly and Foul Play set to headline the evening performance. The afternoon stage will be opened by the all-girl Rock band Black Daisy from Dublin and will be closed by the excellent Cajun band Two Time Polka from Cork.

P.J. Quinlan who is the Secretary of the St. Patrick Parade said he was delighted how well things were coming together and thanked a number of major sponsors without whom it would be impossible to make such a mini-festival work. He added that this seemed to be the way forward in the
future with the Parade becoming an integral part of a bigger Festive weekend.

He said that the Coca Cola Teen Party Night would visit Halla Na Feile on the Friday Night, the event is one of the best run and most professional Discos in the country.

Thanks were due he said to Morrissey’s Supervalu for sponsoring the first prize of €1000 for the best entry into the Parade and to the Town council for the erection of the stage, the re-viewing platform and the associated electrics. Praise too for Alza/Cordis Cashel who are helping out with
stewarding and who had made a generous donation to help fund the involvement of young people in the day’s event, “without all this support we’d be at nothing” he told us.

In addition to the parade, the music and the fireworks, visitors can expect to see a range of local businesses selling food and drink at the Fireworks viewing site. There will also be a fun fair in the town centre on both Saturday and Sunday.

There’s a special ecumenical service for the St. Patrick’s Eve on Sunday in St. John’s Cathedral. On Monday the entertainment turns traditional with an excellent young ceili band from the University of Limerick, The Five Counties playing for a Ceili Mor at Hall na Feile.


ATTRACTING THE SKYFEST IS A SPARKLING SUCCESS SAYS CASHEL CHAMBER

Speaking on the day that the National Lottery announced that SkyFest 2oo8 will be hosted by Cashel., Irene Doyle Chair of the Cashel Chamber of Trade and Tourism welcomed the news. “It’s a major coup for such a small town as ours” she told us,
“ and we are delighted that this truly international event is coming to Cashel on Saturday March 15th”.

She explained that the National Lottery fireworks are likely to attract crowds in “Red Bull Proportions”, which means there will be a certain amount of traffic disruption.

However, on balance she told us, “ This should be a great day for the town, we expect a number of businesses to do really well and the publicity that such an event brings is priceless. “ She continued by saying that the Chamber is working closely with the St. Patrick’s Parade Committee, Halla Na Feile, the Town Council and all local business to ensure that the whole day, not just the fireworks, is a sparkling success.

WHAT'S ON AT THE Cashel St.Patrick’s Fest 2008
Sat 15th March 08

ST. PATRICK’S PARADE
12:00 - 13:30 Set Dancing
13:00 - 15:00 St. Patrick’s Parade

TOWN PLAZA (Main Stage)
15:00 - 15:45 Futurism
16:00 - 16:45 Black Daisy
17:00 - 18:00 Two Time Polka
18.00 - 20.00 (Break for Skyfest)
20.00 - 20.45 Gasolene Rainbow
21.00 - 22.00 Philip Donnelly & Foul Play

ROCK OF CASHEL
18: 30 - 20.00 National Lottery Skyfest

LATE NIGHT AT HALLA NA FEILE
Doors 10pm
E10 late bar
Brush Shiels,
Jukebox Jimmy & more

ON THE STREET
14:00 - 17:00 2FM Roadcaster with Larry Gogan
All day Funfare at Buckleys Car Park
Craft Fare at Halla na Feile Car Park


Thanks to Cashel Town Council, Morrissey’s Supevalu, Alza/Cordis Cashel, Roadbridge Ltd and all our other sponsors for financial help with the events. Events are subject to usual licenses and retrictions, the program may change without being notified on this blog.