FESTIVAL DIARY:The chance to see traditional crafts – and the old methods used to make them – are part of a fun Heritage Day, writes Marese McDonagh
BEEKEEPER MATT Moran’s eyes twinkle as the customer decides to splash out on a second jar of honey. “Don’t blame me if she is pushing a pram the next time I see her,” the beekeeper teases as the mortified couple disappear up Garden Street, the laughter of the crowd echoing behind them.
Seventy-six-year old Moran doesn’t budge from his deckchair all day but he is still a star attraction at Ballina’s Heritage Day, among the tinsmiths, weavers, basket makers and other craftpeople, many demonstrating skills that are now almost forgotten.
All day, wide-eyed children stare at Moran’s “observation hive”, a glass box containing hundreds of bees swarming around the queen, as Moran from Bonniconlon, Co Mayo professes his honey to be “better than physiotherapy”.
“One year here, I had a poitín maker on one side of me and a butter churner on the other,” he recalls wistfully, as if the heady combination of cream, honey and a drop of the hard stuff is too much to contemplate. Never mind, the stalls selling boxty, dillisk and home-made soda bread get hungry visitors into the spirit of things.
Unfortunately damp turf in a fire on Market Square turns an exhibition on how to bake soda bread on the griddle into a smokey affair, reminding us all of the convenience of the sliced pan.
The highlight of the Ballina Salmon Festival, Heritage Day is an annual day out for families where exhibitors are encouraged to dress in traditional garb. Much to the bemusement of the tourists packing the streets of the town, the “heritage” includes everything from Marie Antoinette-style wigs to lace shawls and the straw headgear worn by straw boys.
In Market Square, Heritage Day regular Johnny Fee from Dungannon operates a 130-year-old thresher drawn by a pair of majestic black stallions. Not that many of his audience notices, but Johnny explains apologetically that as it is too early in the year for the corn harvest, he is using straw instead.
The crowds in Ballina learn a lot about the ingenious way craft workers source their raw materials. John Fox, a woodturner from Ballyshannon, uses box wood and eucalyptus from Birr Castle in his work.
According to the Guinness Book of Records, the 300-year-old box hedge at Birr is the tallest in the world. "They took out a section when they were building an aviary so I got some of it," explains Fox.
Joe Gowran from the Muinitir na Coille coppice association says many of the skills on view in Ballina have practically died out, despite being models of self-sufficiency.
Kinsale-based Donal O’Gara has wood burning stoves he makes from recycled gas cylinders, while Leitrim-based Niall Miller demonstrates a pedal-powered fret saw. His wife, Brenda McLoughlin, explains that she grows the dogwood she uses to make dream catchers while Ballymote-based basket maker Francis Presley also grows his own willow.
Patricia O’Flaherty from Stokestown, Co Roscommon has to go a little further afield to source the raw material for her rush work. “I harvest the rushes myself,” she explains. “I get them in the Shannon and I cut them with a sickle. They grow best in fast running water, so I wade out. I like to do it myself because they are quite fragile.”
Probably the only one to top that is Beth Moran, a former photographer from Massachusetts, who for nearly 30 years has been “growing her own sheep” on Clare Island, where she also spins, weaves and dyes the wool before making a range of hats, scarves and rugs. “I suppose I started it because of lack of choice, but I love it,” says Morna, who comes to Ballina by boat from the island.
Festival chairwoman Bernie Hannick is jubilant as the predicted rain holds off and the streets are choked with good humoured crowds. “It rained in Killala, but nothing here,” she says happily.
The festival continues until the weekend, with the revived duck race taking place on the Moy on Sunday, while the Teddy Bear’s Picnic abandoned last weekend because of the weather has been rescheduled for July 18th. Only teddies from Mayo are expected, as Sligo and Galway have an important engagement on a football field at the other side of the county on that day.
