This article is from page 10 of the 2011-06-21 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 10 JPG
CLARE has missed out on a multimillion euro tourism boost with the news that the Cois Fharraige music festival will not be returning to Kilkee this year.
The festival, which was hosted by the West Clare village in 2008 and 2009, will take place at another Irish location this September, with promoters MCD believed to be looking at venues in both Wexford and Kerry. The Clare People has learned that MCD held talks with members of the Kilkee business community in January of this year. The promotions company requested that local businesses shoulder some of the cost associated with the festival’s operations but, when the Kilkee group were unable to raise the required money, all talks were shelved. The Clare People contacted MCD in relation to this story but received no reply at the time of going to press. At statement on the MCD website however confirmed that Cois Fharraige would be taking place on September 9, 10 and 11 of this year but gave no indication as to where the festival would take place.
The president of the Kilkee Chamber of Commerce, John Redmond, told The Clare People that losing the festival was a blow to the village and that Kilkee would welcome Cois Fharraige back in the future.
“Cois Fharraige was made for Kilkee; the festival always worked very very well here,” he said.
“We held meeting with MCD back in January and they were looking for the town to contribute an amount of money towards the festival. Times are difficult at the moment and the businesses in the town just didn’t have the money to invest this year. We haven’t heard from MCD since. We don’t know where the festival is taking place this year but we know that it won’t be taking place in Kilkee.
“Cois Fharraige has been such a huge benefit to the town over the years – especially in 2009. We had a particularly bad year that year and the festival was a great boost to the local tourism businesses at the end of the season.
“We would definitely welcome back Cois Fharraige in the future the festival was made for Kilkee.”
Major international acts such as Supergrass, Travis and the Coronas came to Kilkee for the 2008 and 2009 festivals, which generated an estimated € 12 million for the town over the two years.