Folk Fest aims to stretch Dingle’s tourist season

NO sooner has one music festival ended than another is ready to start in Dingle, with September’s Tradfest to be followed on October 14 – 16 by the first Dingle Folk Fest, Féile Cheoil na nDaoine, which invites people to ‘g’wan to folk!’

This latest offering in Dingle’s ever-expanding calendar of events was conceived by Dara Herlihy and locally based musician Matt Griffin as a way of expanding the tourist season a little further into the winter months.

The idea for the festival draws together Dara’s musical heritage with his working life in the tourism industry. The musical side comes through his box-playing father, Micheál Herlihy of Siopa Ceoil an Daingin in The Colony, and he’s also a nephew of the famed musical Begleys of Baile na bPoc. Meanwhile, the tourism side started with hotel management training in the five star Hayfield Manor in Cork, followed by a period in Fota Island and he then ran the Courtyard Bar and Market House Restaurant in Clonakilty. Dara (aged 32) currently travels the country as a tour guide with Rick Steves.

As a tour guide, Dara travels through towns that are ‘desolate’ and his aim with the Folk Fest is to contribute what he can to ensure Dingle doesn’t end up in the same place. Tourism interests in Dingle are currently very focused on finding ways of extending the season and Dara felt he could contribute to this by tapping into the town’s popularity for trad music as the basis for an autumn festival.

“We decided to try it and see what happens. If it doesn’t work there’s not much to lose but if it does work then there’s a gain for the town and the potential for future development,” he said.

“It will cost about €22,000 to run the festival and based on ticket sales it looks like they we’ll break even or at least not lose too much,” said Dara, adding that any profit will go into next year’s Folk Fest.

Through his uncles’ connections Dara was able to secure Damien Dempsey as the centerpiece of the festival and, he’ll be playing in the Skellig Hotel on Saturday, October 15, with Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh, Donogh Hennessy and Seamus Begley in support (tickets €25).

Built around that concert there’ll be a very busy session trail across some of the pubs in town. The tasty offerings here include: Donal Murphy and Steve Cooney in the Courthouse Bar at 2pm on Saturday, October 15; Eoin Duignan, John Brown and Steve White in The Mighty Session at 4.30pm the same day; and Begley and Cooney back on their old stomping ground in An Droichead Beag for what is sure to be a jam packed session on the following night.