A poker classic, a barbecue and a beach party, along with a parade, a football tournament and the arrival of entertainment all kept the local community in Gneeveguilla busy over the past week as they celebrated the return of the Gneeveguilla Carnival.
the event marked the end of summer and thankfully the good weather helped bring out the crowds and with a host of events there was plenty of fun for all ages.
The return of the carnival was much anticipated after a three year hiatus and it did not disappoint.
Gneeveguilla GAA Chairman Stephen Crowley is delighted with how everything went and in particular the Lord Mayor event which is one of the fun events of the festival.
“It was a massive success, we had four contestants running for Lord Mayor on Saturday night. The four candidates were DJ Murphy, Mark Cronin, Donnagh Fitzgerald and Jim Coughlan. The week before the election, everyone organized their own events. The DJ raffled off a Kerry jersey signed by David Clifford, Donnagh had a barbeque at The Bridge Bar in Rathmore, Jim held a poker classic and Mark Cronin held a beach party,” he said.
The Lord Mayor winner was announced on Saturday night with DJ Murphy taking the title.
“The entertainment was a great success as was the bar. We are very lucky to have our bar on the premises. Major credit must go to the bar management for their work over the weekend. We had a chip van outside for food and refreshments and in terms of entertainment we had All Folk’d Up, they played on the Friday night, and we had a DJ afterwards and there was a great crowd,” he added.
The Paddy O’Leary Tournament which was won by Rathmore U14’s was also hailed as a success as was the music and entertainment on Saturday night.
Stephen said the weather helped tremendously for the weekend.
“We were also very lucky with the weather we had over the weekend. We got out of jail in a sense because the rain stayed away for most of the weekend and more importantly, it stayed away from our parade, ensuring a large crowd was present over several days,” concluded Stephen.
