Page 12 - Sligo X North West

12 Visiting
A Fleadh eruption
Sligo host Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann in 2015 after the stunning success of the event this year when the entire region was swept-up by the goodwill factor.
Ababy looks out of his pram, en- thralled at what is unfolding before his eyes. A trad session right in the middle of O’Connell Street, Sligo.
You’ve got to catch them young and there was no better place to be in August when the world’s biggest festival of Irish traditional music hit Sligo.
With most of the competitions taking place at IT Sligo and the Knocknarea Are- na, the town was given over to impromptu sessions and world-class music staged at over 50 venues including pubs and pop-up shops.
More than 200,000 people visited over the course of a week and the event was a major boost to the town, generating an
estimated €20m for the local economy, with almost 1,600 hotel and B&B beds fully booked.
Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann confirmed Sligo as the host of next year’s festival, which is one of the most unique idiginous cultural events in Europe.
Sligo County Council played a major role in planning for the 2014 event and acting director of services Bartley Gavin was chair of the organising committee.
He was recently honoured for his work by Sligo Chamber of Commerce as the town looks ahead to 2015’s event to be held from August 9th to 16th.
One of the reasons for the success of the Fleadh was the nature of the setting; Sligo’s
enclosed streets, pedestrianised for the ocassion, lent the week a really intimate, welcoming feel.
Everyone worked together. The informal ‘Team Sligo’ coalition of the council, the chamber, Failte Ireland, Sligo Tourism, Sli- go Tidy Towns, Sligo LEADER Partnership all played key roles.
Helped by almost 12 months of mil- itary-style planning, the Fleadh was delivered with the help of almost 1,000 volunteers who picked up litter, gave direc- tions, provided beds, opened their doors and generally added to the craic and atmos- phere, which swept up young and old.
For updates on the 2015 Fleadh Cheoil, check www. fleadhcheoil.ie
On the Edge: a reflection
Iam sitting in the Glens Centre in Manorhamilton. On stage there is an eclectic group performing. Austrian
yodelling and Swiss cello blend with influ- ences from places I haven’t even heard of racing along with Irish traditional music influenced closer to home by Coleman
and Morrison et al. Set follows set and it seems the musical traditions of the world converge and are cascading off the stage as crazily as the stream spilling over Glen- car waterfall just a few miles back up the mountains. A comedian is impersonating northerners talking to north side Dub- liners for a Manorhamilton audience in stitches. Up and down the byroads of Sligo Leitrim this sort of stuff just happens. A few months ago I have left Nathy’s pub
in Tubbercurry after five hours of playing music with locals and those who happen to wander by from Norway or maybe the United States
This is Sligo Leitrim. We are on the
North West periphery where artists live, giving as John Butler Yeats said “a tongue to the sea cliffs”. Artists come here and stay, the world is their canvas this is their home. Great art comes from living on the edge of things when no longer the centre holds.
On a July day we watch a play in Sligo. The stage measures I sq kilometre and the theatre is 100 times bigger than the O2 arena. Curtains must come down before the tide comes in because this play being performed while the tide is out on the two mile stretch of sands between Sligo and Coney Island. Cuchulainn the young tragic warrior is tricked by King Conchubhair. Common maudlin treachery betrays great heroism. The moody sky, Knocknarea, Benbulben and brief reprieve from danger- ous tides set the background like no other could in the world. And why not! These he- roes treaded land and sand and sea in Sligo with the tides and the sun to guide them.
Turning away form the Coney Island
onto higher ground you can see the roots of our civilization, the nerve centres that led you to who you are today. Here in a circle you see hills that contain the best preserved passage tomb clusters in the world, mountains that hosted mythical he- roes of Irish mythology, where Fionn lured Diarmuid to his death away from Keash
in south Sligo to Benbulben further north, where Queen Maeve is buried in Knocknar- ea to where the mythical powers of light and dark fought in the battle of Moytura just off Lough Arrow.
It is as if a creative energy flows, pulsing as the Garravogue does through the centre of Sligo town. We don’t know why so many mythical legends converged in clusters here and we don’t really know why so many artists now conspire to live here
in 2014. The magic spell had its effect on Yeats artists and to-day it is making Sligo Leitrim a home for arts, ideas and culture. LIAM SCOLLAN
Irish Independent
26 November 2014
15
Our bucket list for a few days in Sligo.
1Cast a Cold Eye on Yeats
It’s always a curious thing, this fascination with visiting famous people’s graves but most of us love todoit.W.BYeatsknewwhathewas doing when he picked Drumcliffe as his final resting place and it’s sure worth a visit.
2Down a pint on Coney Island
Coney Island can be accessed by boat, or foot when the tide is out. The pint in McGowans pub is legendary and don’t worry about getting lost:
it’s the only pub on the island.
5Catch a Wave, Dude.
you have to visit Strandhill; walk the beach, chow down at Shells, chill out in a seaweed bath at Voya, relax in front of the fire or take in a session atTheStrandorlickanice-cream from Mammy Johnston’s.
Visit Queen Maeve
7Hike up to visit Queen Maeve’s grave at the top of Knocknarea. Don’t forget that it’s bad luck to take a stone from the cairn but good luck if you bring one with you to place on it: just make sure its not too heavy.
3Arise and Go...
to Innisfree
Innisfree island on Lough Gill is not
accessiblebutthereisaboattrip uptowardsMullaghmoreandwatch
out to it from 17th Century Parke’s Castle or you can drive around the edge of the lake.
4Get Medieval Sligo has some of
the best examples of megalithic and neolithic tombs in the country - Carrowmore and Carrowkeel are two of the best
how the big boys and girls do it (from the safety of your car parked on the headland).
6Go Strandhill
Even if you are not into surfing,
Sligo has a seriously cool surfing scene with the heart located at Strandhill and Enniscrone. Or head