Ardfert's festival of summer fun
Micheál Nolan and Justin Horgan, Ardfert, taking part in the wheelie bin race at the Ardfert festival on Friday evening.
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Wednesday July 28 2010
THE 12th annual Ardfert Summer festival enjoyed big crowds and great entertainment and organisers say that plans are now underway to make next year's event even better.
The festival took place from Thursday, July 22 until Sunday last and managed to provide lots entertainment for the family despite a low budget, with new attractions such as 'Pride of the Parishes' and old favourites like the fancy dress parade and terrier racing. However, regular events such as the air display and the festival queen competition were omitted from the programme.
The festival culminated on Sunday with the parade and the 'Pride of the Parishes' award ceremony, which saw John Hussey's team 'Scart' walk away with €2,000 in prize money.
"It's hard running a festival with low funds during the recession," said committee member Cianán Ferris. "But all in all, the festival went well."
"There were big crowds for the evening entertainment and a big crowd on Monday, the 'scattering day'. I couldn't fault the entertainment," he added.
The Ardfert Summer Festival Committee are already holding a meeting next week to discuss improvements for next year's event.
"We'll be pulling out all the stops next year to make the event excellent, so we have to start organising earlier," said Cianán. "Next year we plan to put bands on the green as the pubs can get a bit too packed."
"We will have all the ideas on paper by time we meet again to organise the festival in January. The public have already been giving us constructive criticism," he said.
- AISLING HUSSEY
