| Too often festivities are caught up in narrow, | | | | making musical instruments and puppets with the |
| generic, commercial definitions. We tend to know | | | | kids and then having a parade at the end of the |
| what to expect from a music/arts/theatre | | | | day. |
| festival, there is a pattern, a formula that's | | | | Having never been there before we had no idea |
| followed often led by the sponsors, the state | | | | what to expect or how many people would turn |
| funders, the tourist board. This makes events and | | | | up. On arrival we were shown to our tent, given |
| festivals hard to navigate, you need to be flexible, | | | | a number of tables and chairs and got organised. I |
| continually moving, finding new ways of presenting | | | | was on babysitting duties so myself and my |
| work, selling work, presenting work without losing | | | | daughter went for a look around. We ambled |
| your sense of priority for ultimately a festival is a | | | | through a small food market, craft stalls and |
| platform on which the audience and artist/concept | | | | around bouncy castles, watched various dog show |
| meet not a space for advertisers to sell products. | | | | competitions (everything from the waggiest tail to |
| And so it was that yesterday, Sunday, made for | | | | the best dressed up), looked at model tractor |
| a very refreshing change. My wife, daughter and I | | | | exhibitions and funny races involving prams, |
| took off to work in Blarney, County Cork at their | | | | gawped at a ferret in a hole betting competition |
| annual town fundraising event. There there was | | | | (this involved putting a ferret into a large bin with |
| to be no negotiation, no hair pulling over | | | | nine holes cut out around the base. The idea was |
| bureaucratic applications for one thing or another, | | | | that you bet on which hole the ferret would |
| no surveys from the tourist board to complete, | | | | come out of), a treasure hunt and a rubber duck |
| no CPMs (cost per thousand; the value put on | | | | derby in the local river. It was fantastic. |
| different forms of marketing material), | | | | There was a plethora of people from the weeny |
| advertising, performance indicators or any other | | | | to the ancient, all having a good time, relaxing, |
| rubbish. No, this was going to be old school. | | | | eating, sitting, lying down, running around and |
| | | | | generally enjoying a day off on a sunny Sunday |
| Every year, the Blarney Town Council organises a | | | | afternoon. The workshops went really well, |
| fundraising day on the green in the centre of the | | | | everyone was busy for the four hours they had |
| village. Tents are put up, volunteers organised, | | | | and the parade was brilliant. Okay, it wasn't a |
| tables and chairs borrowed, signs made, shows | | | | Brazilian or Trinidadian lookalike but that's not |
| put together and favours called in. In our case we | | | | important. What was important was that |
| were the blow - ins, the newcomers. The | | | | everyone in the parade made something and got |
| committee had decided that a few carnival | | | | involved while everyone in the park clapped and |
| workshops would add to their festivities (and | | | | smiled and laughed and cheered. All then went |
| potentially lead onto more in the future) and so I | | | | home having actively taken part in a communal |
| was called and asked to organise it. We duly | | | | celebration; they built bridges between each other |
| arrived - all nine of us - with boxes of art supplies | | | | and their place, they celebrated their community. |
| and recyclable materials with the intention of | | | | And what is more important than that. |