The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Weather fails to dampen Festival spirits
ANOTHER YEAR DONE AND DUSTED, THE ROSE FESTIVAL CONTINUES TO BLOOM AND THERE’S PLENTY OF UPS AND DOWNS, AS SIMON BROUDER REPORTS .....
THAT’S it for another year. The Rose has been and gone, the nights are about to start drawing in and winter is nearly upon us.
For Rose fans of a certain age the end of the festival usually brings back memories of hearing the Glenroe theme tune and realising you still hadn’t done your homework. The fun and games are over and it’s back to school time.
Still, like all the best childhood weekends, it was great while it lasted and we can all look forward to the next one.
Of course the end of the Rose of Tralee also leads to another annual phenomenon in Tralee, the festival post mortem.
So, how was this year’s Rose?
Well it certainly had its ups and downs but overall I think most people will agree it was generally successful.
The majority of Tralee’s hoteliers, restaurateurs and publicans should certainly be happy. The extended festival and the addition of 33 Rose centres proved, as expected, to be a huge bonus.
There wasn’t a room to be had in the town for the entire week and since the festivities kicked off last Tuesday night the town has been chock-ablock with happy looking festival goers.
Usually the festival is worth about €12 million to the town. The final tallies won’t be known for some time yet but I think it’s safe to assume that this year we can probably add another three or four million Euro to the usual takings.
There’s no doubt that bringing the qualifiers back from Portlaoise has reaped huge dividends for the town. The Queen’s county’s loss is most certainly The Kingdom’s gain.
Unfortunately the dismal weather did its best to ruin this year’s event and that certainly had an impact on the festivities and the crowds.
However, no matter how apocalyptic the weather the crowds were still out in force and it was great to see the huge number of families that braved the elements and turned out for the parades and attended the attractions in the Town Park.
If there was one downside, and it was a fairly major one, it was the debacle that surrounded the entertainment in the Town Square.
From the instant it was announced that the main street entertainment would be centralised in the Square – and that on several evenings access would be by ticket only - there were fears that the new arrangements would, to put it mildly, not be a success.
While most of the issues seemed to have been resolved by Saturday many businesses in the Square reported a torrid few days at the start of the festival.
Several were angry that their business had actually been hampered by a festival they supported financially and they had no problem in voicing their frustrations online.
Social media can be blessing or a curse. In this case it was most certainly a curse for the festival organisers with hundreds of Tralee people taking to the internet to support the businesses and to voice their own anger over the fact that access to the Square was being restricted during the festival.
A particularly surprising aspect of the online backlash was the identity of several of the angriest posters. The Kerryman spotted numerous vitriolic comments from well known local social media users who normally slam even the vaguest, and most justified, criticism of the town.
That these self proclaimed protectors of all that is great and good in Tralee were so angry – and so willing to publically attack anything about their beloved town – it should give the street entertainment organisers pause for thought.
Quite what the outcome will be remains to be seen.
While some business owners and members of the general public have their grievances, so too do the hard working Festival stewards.
I am aware of several incidents where stewards – all volunteers who freely give up their time to help their town – were subjected to vile abuse from a small minority of the public.
People are entitled to their opinions but there is no need for a young girl to be called a ‘f **king whore’ because someone couldn’t get to their chipper of choice.
I witnessed that nasty spectacle personally and the person involved, a generally respectable man who should know better, deserves to be utterly ashamed of his actions.
I wonder how he would feel if another inebriated moron treated his daughter in such a manner.