This article is from page 34 of the 2007-09-18 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 34 JPG
THE streets of Ennistymon will be crammed with music lovers of all ages this weekend as the first ever Ennistymon Music Festival takes place.
The festival, which will this year take the place of the Ennistymon Family Festival, offers a massive line-up of free music to suit every- one’s taste.
“Years ago in Ennistymon, in the ‘60s and °/70s, the family festival was an annual event. In recent times, myself and Willie Daly, along with a few others, decided to reform it,” said Co-organiser, Marian Cliff.
“We have organised the family fes- tival for the last two years and it has gone very well. For a number of rea- sons it didn’t happen this year, but we
didn’t want to let a year go by with- out something happening so we have organised the first ever Ennistymon Music Festival.
The central focus for the weekend will be a gig-rig set up in the towns square. Bands, trad musicians and singers of all descriptions will take to the stage there on Thursday and Friday evenings and all day Saturday and Sunday.
“We had a lot of young band play- ing last year, which was great – we had a lot of rock and reggae. But we wanted to have some more trad and folk this year. We have an all around programme with something for eve- ryone,” continued Marian.
“We are trying to complement all the music. If there is a rock band on the stage at a certain time, we will have a trad or a folk band in the pubs,
especially Daly’s, Cooley’s, Cull- inan’s and Marinan’s, at the same time. So there is something to suit everyone.”
Besides being a treat for music lov- ers, the festival will also provide a timely boost for the local economy.
“It’s a really good weekend for the town as well. It brings that extra bit of life around the place and is a ben- efit for the tourism related business- es, especially so late in the tourism season,’ said Co-organiser, Kevin AZT dbree-h ee
Aside from the music, organisers are trying to organise a number of events to keep the younger people NL KosM RN DELeLem
“We will also have an indoor soc- cer tournament as part of the festi- val, organised by Carrie Fleming. She started it as an outdoor event,
but she has turned it into an indoor five-a side competition which will be a welcome pat of the festival,’ con- tinued Marian.
“We are working on a tight budg- et. The more money we can raise through sponsorship, the more dif- ferent events that we will be able to put on. We have been is contact with clowns and people who run pup- pet shows, so hopefully we will be able to have some of these on for the kids.”
For more information on all aspects of the festival, contact Marian Cliff on 086 8782617.