After 15 years, Christy bids adieu to festival

AFTER 15 years, late nights galore and too many fond memories to count, the Harvest Festival organising stalwart Christy Walsh will this year make his final bow at the hugely popular week-long celebration.

Christy said that after over a decade and a half on the organising committee, he now wants to spend more time with his one-year-old daughter and working on his own business in ‘ The Well’ bar.

What started out as just a favour to the late, great Michael Dowling to help out with the festival, turned into much more for young Christy, who soon grew to love his role with the festival and strove to keep it going and growing each year.

“I worked away with Michael for a couple of years, and then when he passed away, to ensure that the Harvest Festival continued, I just took over the mantle,” said Christy, speaking last Thursday.

From that day to now, it’s been 15 years of change, and although Christy said that he has had a blast over the years, he admits that, sometimes, it has been very difficult.

“It has been tough at times because the organising committee is very small, with less than 10 people every year,” he said.

“As well, half our budget is totally reliant on donations from businesses around town, which we are very grateful for,” he added.

Despite these challenges, though, Christy says that he never stopped living by the mantra that his mentor Michael taught him all those years ago:

“Michael had this great saying that if he had a good idea, he’d run with that good idea, and he’d worry about paying for it after,” he laughed.

“I probably brought that sentiment along with me for the last 10 years. If I thought something was good for the town, we’d run with it and we’d find a way of paying for it later,” he said.

Christy said that after he steps aside, he hopes that someone else will come in and help to keep the festival alive, just as he has done.

“Anyone who thinks that they might be interested in taking over, they can call into us at the Festival main base, which is located at the Seanchaí centre in town. We’ll show them how we have been running the festival and our books, and so on.

“It’s not an easy task every year, but maybe if someone is out there with fresh ideas, they could come in and make the festival even better.”

Photo by Dominick Walsh. Getting all set for festival accommodation: taking phone calls were Brenda McGrath (festival accommodation) officer and Christy Walsh. This year’s festival will mark the final festival with Christy on the organising committee; he is set to step down after 15 years.