Rory Gallagher Festival a Big Success
Ballyshannon saw one of the biggest turn-outs to date for the annual Rory Gallagher Festival which seems to be growing in popularity with every passing year.
Once again the town was invaded by crowds of music lovers who came to celebrate the life and music of one of Donegal’s most famous and loved sons.
The scorching bank holiday weather drew huge crowds of revellers from ever corner of Ireland who danced the weekend away to a wide variety of musical performances, both on the streets and in the bars. Throughout the long weekend the streets were packed both night and day as festival goers moved from stage to stage, and pup to pup, sampling as many different musical acts as possible.
The good nature of the festival, which had the feel of a street carnival, ensured that everything passed off in good spirits with a minimum of fuss and bad behaviour, despite all the boozing. The campsite on the outskirts of the town was almost filled to capacity as the field was transformed into a tent-city for the weekend, with barely enough room to move between the tangled mass of guy lines, ropes and tent pegs.
On Sunday morning, still sweltering in the balmy temperatures, the entire campsite descended on the beach to cool off in the pleasant ocean swell before launching one final assault on the town, their livers and their eardrums.
Rory might be gone but his legacy, unlike the unbelievable weekend weather, will never die.
One of the most commented aspects of the festival was the superb clean-up operation which kicked in the early hours of each morning, a festival team ensuring that revellers and locals alike awoke to litter, glass and bottle free streets each morning. All in all a superb weekend and the organisers deserve huge credit for providing such a spectrum of free entertainment.
(Turn to page 20 for more coverage).
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Weather for Donegal
Saturday 04 February 2012
Today
Heavy rain
Temperature: 3 C to 10 C
Wind Speed: 28 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Light rain
Temperature: 6 C to 7 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: South west
