Strawberry Fair needs our help!
The Strawberry Fair needs your help. That was the stark message coming from the Chairman of the County Wexford Strawberry Fair Mr. Cyril Wheelock and MC Jimmy Gahan at the first event of the 49th Festival – the Strawberry Ball on Wednesday last.
Cyril Wheelock, interviewed on South East Radio, told Alan Corcoran that this year’s Festival had been organised by a three man committee of himself, Tom Doyle and Colin Levingstone.
In his introduction MC extraordinaire Jimmy Gahan made a passioned plea to the Riverside Park audience to put their collective shoulders to the wheel for the 2017 Festival to ensure that the 50th Anniversary of the Fair is a huge success.
The Ball was a credit to the organisers being well attended with over 300 enjoying the excellent Riverside repas and musical entertainment by American Heart.
Before introducing this year’s bevy of beautiful Princesses from McCauley Chemists, CWCW, Finishing Touches, The Credit Union, Pettitts Supervalu, Wheelock Fruits, McFaddens and The Holy Grail, Jimmy Gahan asked the gathering to put July 25 in their diaries and come along to the Festival AGM and show their support of the very hard working committee and perhaps come on board to give the town and the County a Strawberry Fair to remember in its golden year.
That was also the message coming loud and clear from Minister Paul Kehoe at the launch of Strawberry Roots at the Alba Restaurant on Friday June 24.
Minister Kehoe had huge praise for Eamonn Doyle and Richie Cotter the main men behind the Strawberry Roots Music Trail saying that trojan work had gone into organising over forty free music gigs in 15 different venues throughout the town giving those visiting the Festival a taste of everything from Jazz, Rock n Roll, to Blue- grass, Country and Folk.
A major achievement for a small, hard working committee he said and again called on Enniscorthy people to put their backs to the wheel and make the 50th Anniversary a Festival to remember.
Before calling on Music Man Neil Toner to cut the ribbon and declare the Strawberry Roots Trail officially open Richie Cotter thanked Minister Kehoe for his attendance, and Brian Cantwell of Diageo for the generous Carlsberg sponsorship of Strawberry Roots, he paid tribute to all the artists contrib- uting over the Festival weekend saying that the very best of live music would be heard all over the town for the following three days with day, evening and night sessions in almost all of our drinking establishments and all for free - now how good is that Richie asked.
He thanked Angelo and Alba Restaurant for the tasty launch and all those who attended telling them to enjoy the evening and the wonderful musical weekend programme.
Neil Toner and Angelo then cut the ribbon and declared Strawberry Roots open.