Dave is leaving Main Street

After eight years on Main Street, Dave Clancy will be closing his flower shop next week, leaving more than just an empty premises in Kilcullen's retail list, writes Brian Byrne.

Dave is a very popular member of the town's business community, but he is also a personality who knits together a broad church of retail colleagues, customers, friends and acquaintances with his own unique mix of charm, humour, wit and turns of phrase that can come way out of left field to calm, amuse, comfort and enrich.

He is one of those people who will happily converse across a street, or, if the traffic is too much, will come across himself to exchange a few phrases on whatever is the topic of the moment. And his knowledge of things that you'd not expect him to be expert in is always a pleasant surprise.

Most of all, even if Dave himself is not in particularly good form, a pause for conversation in his doorway will generally leave him and his visitor measurably happier when the chat concludes.

Dave opened his first shop in Kilcullen in October 2005 on Hillcrest, at a time when his corporate flowers business was in full chase with the Celtic Tiger. No less than many other enterprises, that suffered when the cat succumbed to financial distemper, so he diversified his local operation to offer balloons and other party requirements. At the height of that business, you only had to call to the shop to find out who was having what kind of significant party in and around Kilcullen.

After briefly considering an offer at the end of 2010 to work full time with an international high-end hotels chain, he decided to stick with Kilcullen and moved business to the current shop on Main Street, where the main retail footfall happens to be, in April 2011. Arguably this is where he has made the most significant personal impact too.

Always up for helping out in business and fundraising events, he has been involved with the Kilcullen River Festival and many other occasions in the Kilcullen annual calendar. He also recently defied his own sense of self-preservation and jumped from an airplane to raise money for animal welfare.

We're going to miss him and his warm presence on Main Street when he changes gears again for 2014 and beyond. But he's not leaving town, we're all glad to know, as he intends to continue living here. The Diary — on behalf of everyone in Kilcullen whose lives he has brightened since he came — wishes him well in his endeavours in the new year.

For his part, he has asked us to convey his deep appreciation for the support and friendship he has enjoyed from Kilcullen people over those years.