Contents Wexford, a Model Performer 3 Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann i Loch Garman 5 Wexford: Jewel of the Ancient East 7 All Roads (and Rail) … Lead to Wexford 10 Wexford’s Cultural Year: Anything Goes! 15 Finance | Airgeadeas 17 Accommodation | Lóistín 20 Competition Venues | Ionad na gComórtas 26 Media | Na Meáin Chumarsáide 28 Music, Dance & Other Events | Imeachtaí Ceoil, Rince & Mar Sin 29 Scoil Éigse 2019 31 The Green Fleadh | An Fhleadh Ghlas 34 Merchandising | Marsantú 38 2019 Wexford Bid Committee 40 Wexford Chamber of Commerce 41 Design / Local food trail 42 Oidhreacht Ceolmhar Loch Garman 44 The Last Word | An Focal Deireanach 48 Appendix 1 50 Appendix 2 56 Appendix 3 60 Appendix 4 62 1 2 ‘Wexford and the towns and villages around it were places where even people without much money had books in their houses, or went to the library. The written word held power here, as it still does. And with this came an interest in music, which had very deep roots in Victorian society in Wexford. To be a member of a choir, or to sing in public, was a normal aspect of citizenship. To love music and want to listen to the best of it was a normal aspect of life.’ Co. Wexford novelist Colm Toibin. Wexford, a Model Performer That small acorn continues to bear fruit: every October for three weeks, the annual Wexford Festival Since its inception in 2015, the Wexford Fleadh Bid Committee has been busy engaging community leaders in attracts 12,000 patrons to Ireland’s National Opera House, tucked away on the town’s High Street. its determination to bring Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann, to Wexford town. The three principal operas are a mere aperitif, for the town opens its arms, as it has done for 66 years, to Like Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann, Wexford is synonymous with a rich tapestry of music, from the local and thousands who come from near and far to enjoy the longest arts festival in the country (October 19 to traditional – take the many well established seisiúin cheoil and story-houses around the county – to the global – November 4 in 2018). Among those visitors, one with more than twenty Wexford Festivals in the bag, is Wexford Festival Opera – voted Best Festival at the International Opera Awards in 2017. It is indeed appropriate New York-based critic Brian Kellow. Writing in The Wall Street Journal he remarked: ‘I’m never sad to leave that the biggest Irish traditional music festival in the world should come to the home of one of the longest Wexford, though. People joke about the “Irish goodbye”—leaving a social gathering without saying farewell established musical festivals in the world to avoid the flow of conversation that renders it impossible to make it to the door. For me, the real beauty Glacaimis lenár gCultúr Embracing Our Culture of a Wexford goodbye is that it’s never final.’ Ba cheart go mbeadh na traidisiúin chultúrtha Cultural traditions should be an enriching ina n-ábhair shaibhrithe ag na Gaeil idir óg part of the lives of Irish people everywhere, As a Viking town Wexford is no stranger to invasions, a small price to pay for having the country’s longest agus aosta ar fud an domhain mhóir; ba cheart particularly our young people; they should be a go mbeadh na traidisiúin seo beo beathach, living, highly visible and vibrant part of society; stretch of coastline. As a long established holiday destination, however, both town and county are equipped sofheicthe agus ina gcodanna spleodracha they should be easily accessible to all; and their with the infrastructure and the pragmatic nous to accommodate the sudden injection of ‘invaders’! den tsochaí. Ba cheart, freisin, go mbeadh unique social, cultural and economic benefits gach duine in ann teacht orthu go héasca should be fully realised by communities and agus go mbeadh tuiscint ag pobail agus ag individuals throughout the country and in Irish A 60 year association with the Wexford Festival means that partners like Wexford Co. Council and Wexford an duine ann féin ar fud na tire agus i bpobail communities abroad. Éireannacha thar lear ar an tairbhe shóisialta, Chamber of Commerce have experience in the planning of exceptional public events: the start of the chultúrtha agus eacnamaíochta a bhaineann Tour de France in 1998, National Lottery Skyfest in 2011, watched by 60,000 from the harbour front, the leo. National Ploughing Championship in 2012, with an attendance of over 187,000 and the exceptional and unprecedented Co. Council inspired year-long programme of events to mark the centenary of 1916. It The all-round arts festival format which we identify with today in Ireland was born in Wexford, in 1951 (the same appears that Wexford is on a permanent footing to host an event of the scale and undertaking of Fleadh year as the first Fleadh Cheoil), when a small bunch of volunteers staged a production of The Rose of Castile. Cheoil na hÉireann. 3 4 ‘Wexford attracts the cultural tourists. Opera buffs, traditional music lovers, gourmands. Sun-worshippers flock here from Dublin in the summer, consuming mountains of ice cream and lakes of Lucozade. Arriving the colour of the former, departing the colour of the latter.’ Our aspiration, as a committee pledged to upholding the ideals of Eoin Colfer, Wexford novelist. Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann in hosting the Fleadh, is to once again raise the torch of our proud heritage aloft in celebration of the county’s rich cultural heritage. We recognise that each Fleadh is a fresh flowering of our traditional arts and a reflection of the health of our culture as expressed in music and song. Ag an am seo níl dabht ar bith na go bhfuil an spiorad dúchasach beo beathach trasna na tíre. The goal of Craobh Loch Garman is to ensure that it is a festival by the people and for the people, that in its scale and endeavour we will segue seamlessly the various strands that constitute this magical embroidery of music and friendship. Comhaltas has at its heart the preservation, nurturing and promotion of traditional music, dance and language, the continuation of a rich inheritance that owes no apology for allowing a community to express itself. Our challenge in Wexford is not dissimilar to the fiddler in Seamus Heaney’s poem, The Given Note, in which the musician hears music in the wind and brings it back to society with him: Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann i Loch Garman ‘For he had gone alone into the island, “Is é Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann an t-ardán is mó “Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann is the greatest And brought back the whole thing. le haghaidh na n-ealaíon traidisiúnta Gaelach showcase any where for traditional Irish arts. The house throbbed like his full violin.’ áit ar bith ar domhan. I gcaitheamh aon For two weeks every August the very best of seachtain amháin gach Lúnasa tagann scoth na traditional talent from all over Ireland and the gceoltóirí, na rinceoirí agus na n-amhránaithe le World comes together to meet, to compete, The Fleadhanna in Enniscorthy in 1999 and 2000, which helped usher in the new chéile ó gach cearn den domhan chun bualadh but, most importantly, to celebrate all that is Millennium, sowed a seed which Wexford is ready to reap, eager to contribute lena chéile, chun dul in iomaíocht lena chéile best in Irish music, song and dance.” agus, an rud is tábhachtaí ar fad, chun ceol, to that indefatigable spirit we saw in Ennis. For us Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann is rince agus amhránaíocht den chéad scoth a an opportunity to bring together this crucible of music and song with the charm cheiliúradh.” and character of a town shaped by so many cultures, beautifully encapsulated by Fleadhanna Ceoil shall be held to propagate, consolidate and perpetuate our Irish traditional music, both vocal Brooklyn author Colm Tóibín: ‘The dwindling light adds a rare wash of melancholy and instrumental, dance as well as an teanga Gaeilge, by presenting it in a manner worthy of its dignity, and in over Wexford which can become exquisite on an afternoon when the sky is blue accordance with the aims and objectives of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann. but beginning to darken, and you walk from the Main Street down one of the side streets to the quays.’ Craobh Loch Garman, in response to a reawakening throughout the county of ‘an cultúr dúchasach’, and in An bunaidhm atá ag Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann ná caomhnú, cothú partnership with Wexford Co. Council, is bidding to host Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in 2019. agus cur chun cinn ceoil, rince agus teanga dúchasaí na tíre. Is próiseas leanúnach é; cuireann an seanchas comhroinnte leis an gcreatlach shaibhir ilchineálach chasta atá fite go dlúth ag na ceoltóirí, na seanchaithe agus na The Wexford Fleadh Bid Committee is seeking the honour of hosting the Fleadh in the county for the first time filí agus a tháinig anuas chugainn o ghlúin go glúin thar na blianta. since 2000. Our committee comprises individuals with both a genuine love for, and understanding of, the spirit and essence of the Fleadh, with many having a background in the organisation of public events on a vast scale. Comhaltas has at its heart the preservation, nurturing and promotion of Irish music, dance and language. This continues a process handed down In Wexford - the Model County - no stone has been left unturned in our desire to present a Fleadh to emulate through the generations of adding to a “rich, varied and complex fabric” the achievements of Ennis in 2017, when over 450,000 people experienced nine days of traditional Irish music of shared lore which has been woven through the centuries by musicians, excellence.