This is the sixth Medieval Festival

It was held on the weekend of Friday 17th to Sunday 19th August 2012.
Fethard Walled Town Medieval Festival arose from an initiative of The Heritage Council in setting up the Irish Walled Towns Network in 2005,

FETHARD WALLED TOWN MEDIEVAL FESTIVAL 2009 Report & Analyses


Background
FETHARD WALLED TOWN MEDIEVAL FESTIVAL 2009

Report
Fethard’s Walled Town Medieval Festival arose from an initiative of The Heritage Council in setting up the Irish Walled Towns Network. This grouping, of over twenty Irish towns, places an emphasis on their medieval heritage in terms of buildings, walls, carvings and history. This heritage is both preserved and celebrated through the Network who have designated Walled Towns Day to coincide with the first Sunday of Heritage Week which falls towards the end of August every year.
Fethard is one of the few towns whose town wall circuit is almost complete and where medieval buildings are still in use. The town’s medieval fabric is very visually apparent

unlike many other historic towns. There is also a very active historical society ‘The Fethard Historical Society’ who were keen to promote the medieval aspect of the town and they 'sponsored' the first Medieval Festival in 2007. Fethard has a long history of running a Carnival. This carnival was an annual event up to a few years ago and the Fethard and Killusty Community Council were delighted to participate in a revival (albeit in a slightly different format) and they 'sponsored' the festival in 2008.
This year, 2009, South Tipperary Council, via the Office of the County Heritage Officer (Labhaoise McKenna) was the 'sponsor' of the festival, aided by a Medieval Festival Committee. This committee was made up of local representatives and officers of the County Council, especially the County Heritage Officer, Labhaoise McKenna and the Curator of the County Museum, Maria McMahon.
Failte Ireland, when introduced to the town’s potential as a tourist destination, gave its support from the outset.
Space and Location
Fethard lends itself as a wonderful natural location for a festival as there is a spacious green area along the South Wall, through which the Clashawley River flows. This natural flat 'Valley Park' abuts the 13th century Holy Trinity Church, a mural tower, two castles and a medieval town house. With heraldic shields hanging from the town wall and flags of the four provinces billowing from the corners of the church tower, the area becomes festive in a very natural and authentic way.

Aims
The ambience to be colourful, high quality, largely non-technological and with a strong element of participation Interactive events included shell mandala, puppet show, archery, falconry, historical re- enactments, coin striking, games, river walks, craft workshops, pig roast, and other demonstrations of medieval crafts.
To engage with all age groups and make it a family day
People of all ages are encouraged to dress up and join in the parade. This year there was a huge increase in the numbers of people in 'Period Costume' following a series of workshops and demonstrations. The centrepiece of this year’s parade was the transport and hanging of a very big tapestry which was created by local children in a week long of workshops led by local artist Pat Looby.

Also , the 'family shields' of over twenty Norman Families were cut out, painted and hung from the battlements. Amazing, or not, nearly all the names are still the common family names in the locality which drew great interest from the families involved, Roche, Hackett, Wall, Mockler, Stokes, Tobin, Purcell, Butler and many more.
The festival appeals to a broad audience by adding a modern flair through music. Two local youth bands Naked Mr. America and Zero Tolerance played in the Square before the parade began. The historical re-enactments and target practice also had a broad age group appeal. The presence, again, of five wolf hounds that led the parade caught the attention of all, teenage boys in particular. Food prepared by the local rugby club was available at a reasonable rate. Families and friends sat around the food area chatting and listening to the Lee Valley String Band.
To have events and talks of historical interest
A vital part of these years’ events was the Official Launch of the Conservation and Management Plan for the Town Walls of Fethard on the Saturday night in the wonderfully restored Abymill Theatre. Julian Munby of Oxford Archaeology (Consultants) spoke enthusiastically on Fethard and the Plan was officially launched by local representative Mr John Fahey MCC.
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A novel add-on to this year’s festival, organised by The Fethard Historical Society was the 'striking' of a special 'MEDIEVAL FETHARD COIN' on the day. This coin will only be struck on Walled Towns Day, and it depicts the old Corporation Seal of Fethard and the Sheela Na Gig carving from Watergate is on the converse side.

To encourage as many local groups as possible to be involved
Momentum is gathering with the festival and groups are on board to lend a hand. The local rugby club did delicious discount catering and there were farmer’s market stalls selling their homemade goodies. Macra Na Feirme provided medieval stocks where sponges were thrown at various willing volunteers! There was also a wide variety of novelty tents such as fortune telling, Fair Trade and felting. Local landowners are on board and provided access to land, electricity supplies etc. Live music was also held during the weekend at the famous McCarthy’s hotel where major artist Paul Brady performed in an outdoor setting by the Town Walls,

To increase the tourist footfall to the Fethard Region
The festival was coordinated with the walled town day at nearby Cashel and Clonmel. A large presence of 'Strangers' (I.e. Visitors) was noticeable, both on the Saturday and Sunday. Failte Ireland's Calendar of Events and Heritage Council publicity for Heritage Week all help in attracting people to the festival.
Visitors from South Africa L to R: Lauren Meier, Peter Meier, Zanny Meier, Kate Corcoran, Crystal Meier, Coleen Newton and James Meier.
L to R: Richard Auler, Pat Looby, Ulrike Grubner, Jorg Schneidereit and Stella Coffey.

Current Projects underway
This years poster, again designed by Graphic Artist Frank O’Reilly, was nearly too good as many people wanted a copy for 'framing ' and hanging in they homes. His visionary project of creating a virtual three-dimensional digital model of Fethard Town Wall -as it would have looked in its completed state- is still a live topic for completion should finances allow. Gerard Crotty's book on the Heraldry of Fethard is ready for publication and will come out in the New Year,
Historian, Michael O’Donnell has also completed the definitive ‘History of Fethard’ which is being published by Geography Publications and is due for publication in the spring of 2010.

Publicity
The committee has access to a rich vein of publicity as festival committee member and Community Council representative Joe Kenny collates a full page on Fethard News every week in The Nationalist Newspaper. Joe also runs the Fethard website, dedicated to emigrants from the parish www.fethard.com and has over 1300 visitors per day.
The use of advertising on local radio stations, Tipp FM was a big help and also acted a gateway to appear on various radio programmes to talk about the festival and highlight individual events.
Children’s Art Competition
A medieval drawing colouring competition for South Tipperary school children was promoted in local newspapers and in local towns to also promote the Festival Day events. The entry forms / festival flyers were distributed to shops in all the local towns surrounding Fethard and were also available to download from the Fethard Website for those further a field.


Ceramic Exhibition
A ceramic exhibition created by a group of local artists was opened in the Tholsel - Town Hall (this is one of the oldest buildings, c1600, in public ownership in the country) on the Saturday evening of the festival.

Festival Budget 2009
Heritage Council Grant South Tipperary County Council Fethard Historical Society Private Sponsorship The 2008 budget totalled
€12,500.00 €2,500.00 €1,000.00 €1,000.00
€17,000.00
All monies were spent in accordance with conditions of grants and receipts were kept. The festival committee broke even with the 2009 festival, but with much voluntary input, labour and materials.

Did we reach our Goals & Objectives? Goals
Our main goal to promote Fethard as a Walled Medieval Town was certainly achieved by the advertising campaigns on radio, newspapers, Fethard Website, colourful posters, fliers and art-competition. We attracted a large number of foreign tourists to Fethard over the weekend that were able to avail of informative tours of the town and also access the many medieval buildings that were opened for the festival.
Objectives
Our main objective was to increase the amount of activities this year and in doing so, also increase the number of visitors to the festival. This year we attracted over 1,800 people to the festival, which was a 30% increase on last year. Local participation in the Festival Medieval Parade has also increased with greater numbers in costume and with more trained re-enactors from the locality.
Fethard Medieval Festival organising committee analyzing the 2009 event. L to R: Joe Kenny, Mary Hanrahan, Pat Looby, Diana Stokes, Terry Cunningham, Dóirín Saurus and Tim Robinson.


Where to go from here?
This indeed is a big question. The three years of the Medieval Festival has proved that when a 'quality event' is organised that people will come. There is a big latent market for fun family events that are safe and educational. However, such events take money and organisation to deliver.
Hopefully funding will continue in 2010 and that the organisers will be informed as early as possible in the year, so as to allow time for booking and organising events. We sincerely hope that the 'brand image' that has been now developed in ‘Medieval Fethard’ can continue and expand in the coming years.
Photographed at the launch of the Conservation & Management Plan for Fethard's Medieval Town Walls are L to R: Labhaoise McKenna (County Heritage Officer), Cllr John Fahey and Alison Harvey (Heritage Council).