Anna-Marie Flynn
NORTH Mayo is in the throes of festival madness this week, as Ballina braces itself for the biggest two days of its calendar year.
Tomorrow (Wednesday) the original National Heritage Day is expected to welcome over 60,000 festival-goers to the town as the four main streets wind back the clock to enjoy arts, crafts and traditional Irish food and drink.
Over 300,000 people in total are expected to descend on the town for the programme which kicked off with an open-air Whitewater gig last Friday night.
On Saturday night, July 19, Ballina will once again transform itself. This time samba beats will take to the streets for the Mardi Gras which climaxes in a kaleidoscope of colour in the west’s biggest ever fireworks display. The grand finale of the programme attracts almost 100,000 people to the banks of the Moy each year and 2008 will be no different.
Chairperson of Ballina Salmon Festival, Matt Farrell, told The Mayo News the centre-pieces of the Salmon Festival are still family favourites, despite being included in the events listings every single year since the mid-1990s.
“I think we have something very special in Ballina with the bulk of Ballina’s revenue generated throughout ten days. The whole programme generates €5 million for the local economy, but the reality is most of that comes from these two events. We employ a full-time staff of 34 on the FÁS scheme affiliated to the festival and that brings in €500,000 in wages annually. The planning involved in Heritage Day and the Mardi Gras alone would be two full-time jobs. It takes a lot of thought, effort, time and money to put this together so the 50 volunteers who work tirelessly really have to be given huge credit,” he said.
While Ballina winds down on Saturday night, with the finale of the children’s programme on Sunday afternoon, with the Teddy Bear’s Picnic, the nearby town of Crossmolina will be just starting its own ten-day festival.
Commencing this Friday, July 18, with the opening parade, some of the highlights include the Enniscoe Heritage Day, Nephin Climb, music and drama workshops and Lough Conn Regatta.
This is the third consecutive year of the Crossmolina Community Festival, since its revival in 2006.
Chairperson Kieran Mulhern said, despite the big undertaking, Crossmolina’s festival ‘is really unique’. “We have changed a few things around this year and are really looking forward to our programme. There is a great buzz around the town and people are returning home with their families for the week. It’s lovely to think that people are using this as a chance to get a holiday at home. Our festival really is a community effort,” he said.
