Mayo Alive festival attracts 20k people

Singers Tommy Fleming and James Kilbane are pictured with former Mayo Rose of Tralee Aoibhinn Ní ShúilleabhΡin, who was special guest at 'Mayo Alive'.

20,000 at ‘Mayo Alive’ festival


Edwin McGreal

In the region of 20,000 people attended the ‘Mayo Alive’ Festival in Dublin on Sunday in what organisers are describing as a ‘huge success’.
The festival, which aimed to highlight and promote Mayo in an interactive music and cultural celebration, saw acts such as The Saw Doctors and Tommy Fleming attract thousands of people to the Dublin City Council Amphitheatre, just off Temple Bar.
Over eighty Mayo companies and organisations exhibited their goods and services at 35 stands and organisers are hopeful that it will result in up to a 15 per cent increase in visitor numbers to Mayo this summer.
“We took on this project in the Mayo Association in Dublin last year as an effort to promote tourism, culture and the history of Mayo, an all-encompassing project,” said SeΡn Reid of the Mayo Association. “Our aim is to see an increase of 10 to fifteen per cent in Mayo this summer. We’ve tracking systems in place with hotels and other outlets and hopefully we will start to see the feedback soon.”
The festival was funded through the Leader Rural Development Scheme while the Mayo Association themselves assisted with the funding. Organisers are hoping to make the festival an annual event.