Best parade yet for Ballymahon festival

There was a sea of green, white and gold in Ballymahon last Thursday afternoon as the crowds that came out to celebrate St Patrick’s Day for the first time since 2019.

Marching bands, comedy acts, dancing and school floats made their way from Creevaghbeg down towards the end of the Main Street, taking a route past the gig rig, which was set up at the local library.

Chairperson of the St Patrick’s Day committee Pat O’Toole said that this year’s parade was arguably the best ever, as the streets were lined with excited families and people of all ages.

“After the two-year Covid related absence it was marvellous to see our St Patrick’s Day Parade back this year and what a parade it turned out to be, arguably Ballymahon’s best ever with the Main Street thronged long before the parade began at four o’clock with parking spaces at a premium,” he enthused.

There was a wide range of floats entered into this year’s competition from the commercial sector to the community and voluntary sector, not to mention the vintage sector with a variety of cars, tractors, vans and jeeps rolling up the street for the day that was in it.

There were six primary schools involved in this year’s parade - Ballymahon, Forgney, Tang, Tashinny, Colehill, and Ardagh as well as ABC pre-school and the victorious Ballymahon Vocational School Under -19 Basketball Team who had become All Ireland Champions just ten days prior to the parade.

Best float and Overall Winner of the competition this year was St Matthew’s National School Ballymahon who receive the St Patrick’s Day Perpetual Cup and the first prize of €500 euro.

“Congratulations to the school’s Parents Association and the children for the excellent work in preparing their entry,” said Cllr O’Toole.

Other winners included:

St Mel’s NS Ardagh (Most Topical), Ballymahon Tidy Towns Committee (Best Environmental Awareness Entry), ABC Childcare (Best New Entry), Convent House Day Care Centre (Most Humorous), and Creations Garden Centre (Best Shop Window).
“Congratulations to all the category winners; your work and preparation is highly commended,” said Cllr O’Toole.

“A sincere thank you from the organising committee to the following without whom it would not be possible to hold the parade: our main sponsors Kepak Ltd and Longford County Council, Ballymahon Traders’ Association and all the businesses who contributed financially to enable us host the parade.

“Many thanks to the Gardaí, the Civil Defence, and the stewards who assisted on the day and ensured everything ran to plan.

“Thank you to Pat Keenan for providing the vintage car for our Parade Grand Marshall Michael Farrell Snr, and to our new ‘St Patrick’ Enda Murtagh and to John Connell our excellent Master of Ceremonies, also to John Byrne Drop Link Ltd who provided the truck for the Reviewing Stand, and to Mike and Josephine Cooney’s Hotel who host our committee meetings year on year.

“Finally a massive thank you to our hard working committee who give so much of their time and energy to ensure that Ballymahon has a St.Patrick’s Day Parade: Chairperson Pat O’Toole, Secretary Liam Natton, Treasurer Peter Dennehy, Aiden Lovell, Jenny White, Niall Dowler, and Mike Cooney.”

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