Price hiking fails to deter thousands from attending Bluegrass Festival

An estimated daily turnout of more than 6,000 braved price hiking, gurning teens and "elements" with little or no interest in the spectacular musical acts on offer in Dunmore East for what was deemed a largely successful Bluegrass Festival weekend.

On Friday night, the Hickory Project was busy wowing about 500 people gathered on the sweeping lawns of the Haven Hotel in what was easily the most family-friendly of six venues over the weekend.

Meanwhile, a gang - mostly teens - congregated on the wall overlooking Lawlor's Strand about 20-odd ft below.

This group, numbering hundreds each night, caused little trouble as such, with gardaí reporting "only some public order offences" over the weekend.

Nevertheless, the cans and the bottles strewn on the beach below was not a pretty sight.

"Is it yerself Mick?" one fisherman asked a distinguished looking character with a  cowboy hat in the Ocean Hotel on Friday night. Hazard Hollow had just finished their set, while The Original Knotty Pine were preparing for theirs.

Of course it was Mick himself: the 13th Guinness Dunmore East International Bluegrass Festival tends to attract 'em from far and wide year-after-year. And this year was no different in this regard.

What was different, however, was the price of the drink.

For example, one group on Saturday complained of being charged €10.30 for a pint of stout and a quarter-bottle of Sauvignon Blanc from a "smart-arsed" bartender in one of the local hostelries, while being forced to listen to far too many "Hooray Henrys and Henriettas" for their liking.

However, festival promoter Mick Daly was quick to defend some of this.

"We had to bring in security this year, otherwise the Gardaí wouldn't have licensed it," he said.

"This is a free festival and our security bill came to about €10,000-€12,000," he offered in explanation for the temporary increase in the price of the pint.

He added: "We've had a problem for the last two years with kids sitting on that wall: it's going to be very difficult to eradicate.

"There have been six to eight council workers down there every morning of the festival and if you arrived at noon, you wouldn't know there was a festival on," he said.

Any cause for complaint was counterbalanced by a weekend of great weather in a beautiful setting, adding to the good-natured atmosphere and encouraging family aspect that this festival attracts.

Local outfit, Anyoldtune, featuring renowned musicians such as Dylan Bible and Martin Murray, had thighs a-slapping on the stage at The Strand Bar - converting hundreds to the bluegrass genre.

Other highlights of the weekend included the Southern Tenant Folk Union at Power's Bar, The Jeff and Vida Band in The Spinnaker Bar, and the Tennessees Hennessees in Azzuro at The Ship.