A tremendous success

"Listen, it's just great!"

That was an almost-teenager on her phone, on the bridge at Kilcullen.

"It's just really good that we didn't have to go to another town for this."

That was a young mum to a friend as she pushed her buggy and its precious cargo through the throngs.

Both, along with many hundreds of others, were enjoying Kilcullen's first River festival.

Except that, actually, it wasn't. There are those of us who still remember the Canoe Club Regattas of the 60s, and the official opening of the Valley Park back in the '70s, when the river and its possibilities were exploited to their best.

But maybe we've forgotten the importance of the Liffey to Kilcullen in the intervening years. Though not everybody did. The late Pat Dunlea conceived and built developments which 'turned the town back to the river' as he said to me once.

However, that's another story. The Kilcullen River Festival 2010 is very much a tale of today, and after that a tomorrow where it will become an even more serious underpinning of Kilcullen's summers.

Here's a bottom line, but it won't end this report. The Festival was a success beyond everybody's expectations. Including those of the organisers, who included members of the Army and the local Garda who helped to make it a really special day.

"We hoped it would work, but this is way beyond what we thought it would be," says Brian Fallon, one of the group of Kilcullen businesspeople who put the project together. "We have something very successful to build on for coming years."

Putting numbers on how many came is difficult. But that the Market Square and its extended area, along with the full length of the bridge, were constantly full of adults and children, puts the figure in probably multiple thousands.

They were entertained in the river context by events that included the annual Kilcullen Lions Duck Race, which involved 600 of the plastic bath buddies being herded out of bankside traps by the expert boatpeople of Kilcullen Canoe Club so that they all had a decent chance of a finish at the bridge. The club also gave a demonstration of canoe polo, the first time it was done in Kilcullen.

There was also an inter-business Raft Race for which the entries were surprisingly well engineered and none actually sank. A military-devised exercise which involved taking 'fuel and ammunition' and 'wounded soldiers' across and back the Liffey took its toll on teams from The Hideout and Bardons. A tug of war in the river finished the river activities.

Back on the banks, the various restaurants and cafes of Kilcullen provided opportunities to taste elements of their menus. Suggesting the thought that Kilcullen could well become the 'Kinsale' of Leinster foodies.

For the record, these included The Hideout, Bardons, The Riverside, The Italian Kitchen, Fallons Cafe Bar & Restaurant, and The Good Food Gallery.

The Farm & Crafts tents at the back of the Market Square complex did steady business all day until it was time to close the show until next year.

The only disappointment was the final, and inevitably controversial, score in the Kildare v Down game, which was watched on a large screen in the square.

There were some initial concerns about weather, but on the afternoon the skies cleared to provide a glorious end to August for the many family groups who came along to enjoy the festivities that were, as far as this writer is concerned, as good as at any large summer festival on the European continent.

The whole event cost around €10,000 to mount, but it seriously put Kilcullen on the map in Kildare county festival terms, and highlighted what the growing Liffeyside town has to offer in many areas. The River Festival can take a deservedly proud place in a line of events going back to the Dan Donnelly An Tostal pageants of the 50s, the Regattas of the 60s, the Community Capers in the 70s, and all the smaller events which are a regular part of the living tapestry of Kilcullen.

And, what makes it that much sweeter is that the whole event was conceived and managed mostly by the 'new' business people of Kilcullen, showing that the future of the town is in very capable hands indeed. Well done, all. You did us proud.

Brian Byrne.