Rockin’ Food Festival and Strawberry Fair are cancelled
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A number of high profile festivals planned for Enniscorthy this year have become the latest casualties of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Rockin’ Food Festival was due to be held in August, however, the committee has decided to cancel the event as a result of the pandemic and in line with Government and health authority guidelines regarding public gatherings.
The committee said it was a decision that ‘wasn’t made lightly’ and that cancelling the event will have implications for many people.
In a statement issued from Jean O’Connell and the organising committee, the members felt that the health and safety of everyone was of paramount importance including visitors, volunteers, vendors and artists.
However, looking ahead to next year the committee has promised a brand new, impressive line-up of chefs, producers and special guests in a free food marquee.
They also plan to have in excess of 80 local and artisan food vendors at the event in 2021 and a fantastic lineup of rock ‘n’ roll artists with a wide range of free outdoor gigs.
More details about the event will be published in this newspaper prior to the event.
The organisers of this year’s Strawberry Fair have also confirmed that this year’s event has been cancelled for the first time in its 53-year history.
The second oldest festival in the country, after the Rose of Tralee, the organisers took the decision in line with guidelines.
‘At this stage there are no plans to host the event later this year and instead we will be focussing on holding an even bigger and better event than ever before in 2021,’ said the spokesperson.
The organisers behind the Blackstairs Blues Festival said they are keeping an eye on developments ‘week to week’ but a spokesperson admitted that it’s unlikely the event will go ahead.
‘At this stage it really does look unlikely because even if the pubs are back, and even that’s not certain at this stage, there will still be the matter of social distancing and that would make it unviable in most venues,’ he said.
Meanwhile, the organisers of the Streams of Bunclody festival have said they plan to go ahead with their event.
One of the organisers, Jonathan King, told this newspaper that those behind the event are working to the theory that everything is going ahead as planned at the moment.
The event is due to take place in July with the official launch scheduled for June 15.