Spring Rain! Is this becoming a habit? On the morning of the Spring Fair we woke up to torrential rain and howling winds, same as last year. But perhaps it was a blessing in disguise as by early afternoon St. Multose Hall was buzzing with people and energy. Had it been sunny they might have all gone to the beach!

Again TTK joined forces with Kinsale Tidy Towns, who ran their second annual car boot sale.  This year we moved to St. Multose Hall, and what a fantastic venue this turned out to be. We had a probable attendance upwards past 500 people. Car boot stalls were a €20 donation to Tidy Towns and all 20 exhibitors said they had a successful day.

While Kinsale Environment Watch ran the café with all kinds of tasty food and snacks, the Eco-Market provided a venue for green businesses and local craftspeople to come together under one roof and gave the local community the opportunity to see what they can avail of locally. Stalls included Irish Seed Savers, Earth Care, Solaris, EcoStore, Avego, Walnut Books and L’Arche Project. Craft and clothes stalls included Giselle Harvey, Belleetik, Ellen O’Shea and Pomme, Petra, Fran and Lea’s Arts and Crafts. 

Whilst the medley of market stalls, cake stands, yogis and renewable energy tumbled and hummed in the main hall, some smiley people managed to catch one or two of the workshops that where running in the small room next door. The day started with a blissful yoga meditation with Ishwara, all the way from Brighton, followed by a singing workshop run by Caz Jeffreys that was enjoyed by young and old alike. Meanwhile, despite the sogginess of the weather, Steven Galvin gave an informative and sparkly introduction to the world of herbal tinctures out in the Yurt. Rosita enthralled kids both big and small with her recycled paper sculpture-making in the main hall, and Niamh Dempsey inspired a room-full of wooliness with her peg loom. Caz enchanted the kids with story time in the yurt in the afternoon and Rob demonstrated the sophisticated simplicity of peddle power and its many possibilities. The Drumming workshop ended the day with a bang, packing the small room with grinning faces and rolling beats. All in all both workshoppers and workshopees appeared to have a thoroughly good time. Thank you to all who provided the day with the skills, expertise and commitment needed to make it happen, and thank you to all those who took part and had fun on the day.

‘I was very excited by the alternative energy of the Spring Fair...wanted to make the newspaper pots, cycle the energy bicycles, buy the seeds straight away... got some great advice for my new tunnel, had lovely homemade soup...could have stayed longer in the lovely positive atmosphere...’

Anita MacGabhann, Knockainey, Co. Limerick

The Spring Fair is an annual event so if you have a business that would benefit from being at this event let us know – likewise if you have any ideas for new stalls.

Finally a huge thanks to all our sponsors who very generously donated prizes to our raffle and ‘auction’:

Phillip Ward, Acton's Hotel, John Baker, Michele's Hair Salon, Kinsale Silver, Bolands, Hair Studio, Cooleez, Subar, Mother Hubbards, Jim Edwards, Vintage, Fishy Fishy, Londis, Footloose, Angel's Secrets, Kinsale Crystal, Nini's Cafe, Eileen's Salon, Harte's Chemist, Daisychain Florist, Mange Tout, Ladbrokes, Suit~Ables, Heron Gallery, Quay Food Company, Kinsale Bookshop, 1601 Off License, Murphy's Grocers, Elasnik, Armada, Cab 3000, New Image, An Teac, Gaoithe Mor, Mylie Murphy, Finishing Services, Francis Allen, Tap Tavern, Trident, Tierney's Guest House, Fitzgerald's Insurance, Blue Haven Collection, Supervalu, Tom's Bakery, Toddies at The Bulman, Spaniard, Walnut Books, Cobra, Green Saffron, Smartsol, Gee-up, Fintan Lynch, Bookstor, Kist, Giles Norman, Collin's Chemist, Stone Mad Gallery, Heather Mountain, White Lady, Divine, Barrett's Butchers, Jola's, Hoby's, Vista, Kim House. Also to Cork Community Bikes for their bike powered smoothie makes and jukebox and Kinsale Road Train for offering free lifts to the Hall.

All funds go towards making Kinsale a more resilient and self-reliant community.

Photos by Kevin Dalton and Jane Barry

19 Market St. Kinsale, 24th April – 1st May
Local Artists exploring low impact artwork through exhibition, performances and installation.

The eve of this year’s Spring Fair saw the launch of the very unique Green Door Art Show with its art and installations focused on sustainability. The artists took inspiration from the elements of the earth: Tara De Las Cases chose different coloured clay and earthy pigmented colours and sculpted some beautiful pieces which were then framed; Brendan Powers’ work embraced two of nature’s elements: fire and earth, utilizing the medium of pyrography (writing with fire); Donal O’Gara crafted fine functional art material based on recycled steel and wood; Brian Brennan used found objects which he recycled into beautiful pieces and Rob Ireson used a D.I.Y. ethic, working primarily with metal and recycling what ever possible to power interactive kinetic sculptures  such as his analogue virtual reality machine.