'Fantastic success': Granard Easter Festival and parade attracts thousands of people

The Granard Easter Parade which took place last weekend on Easter Sunday was a 'fantastic' success with over 50 organisations, clubs and businesses coming out in droves to march down Granard Main Street.

The two-day Easter Festival commenced on Saturday morning and it concluded late on Sunday afternoon with thousands of people from across the county and region marking the Easter celebrations.

Lorraine Farrell, one of the organisers of the Granard Easter Festival, said it was a huge triumph and she estimated they had in the region of 3,000 to 4,000 people in the town.

"It was absolutely a fantastic success," she added.

READ NEXT: Longford ahead of national average in fibre take-up despite reported slow speeds

Lorraine they had to cancel the 5k run on Saturday that was due to take place while the yellow weather warning was in place but their volunteers enthusiastically reattached all of the bunting on Sunday morning.

"The weather was good then for the parade and there was a huge amount of floats, I'd say we had 50 plus," she added.

Lorraine said it was a free family event and they paid for the bouncy castles, face painting and the entertainment with the only real costs for people venturing into 'shops, the coffee shops themselves'.

READ NEXT: More than €660,000 received by Longford for community initiatives last year

Rosemary Gaynor, a Granard librarian who has amassed over 40 years of dedicated service, was the 'ideal candidate' to be the grand marshall.

Rosemary thanked the committee for the honour and she expressed her gratitude to everyone for their 'beautiful comments on social media, texts and phone calls'.

She said was was delighted to be driven in a 1916 Ford Model T formerly owned by Larry Kiernan, brother of Michael Collins’ fiancée, Kitty Kiernan, which was restored by Eamon Creamer.

*For the full story see this week's upcoming edition of the Longford Leader