Ballina Heritage Day has never lost its magic
There were all kinds of unlikely and unexpected scenes at Ballina Heritage Day - and this was one of them, brilliantly captured by local photographer John O'Grady.
If there were any doubts as to whether or not Heritage Day was taking place in Ballina, getting held up in traffic behind a Ford Cortina and an army tank on the Foxford Road last Wednesday morning quickly dispersed those doubts.
2025’s edition of the famous event proved again that Heritage Day in Ballina has never lost its magic. Blessed with favourable weather after uncertain forecasts, it proved to be an immense success and left all in attendance with some very fond memories.
For any skeptics who are uncertain of its place as a household name, arguably the biggest day-long event of its kind in the west of Ireland, look no further than the crowds that came from all around that packed and thronged the streets.
Lift your ears no higher than to the unmistakable lilt of American accents and percussive, rhythmic clapping of immensely entertained attendees as they took in the delightful sounds of the youngsters from the Bofield Céilí Band, the Screaming Orphans up on the Post Office stage and the slew of talented buskers all vying for their place in the coveted Busking Final on Saturday evening.
At the height of the day, there was gridlock in foot traffic from the AIB Bank up to the Post Office stage. Many of the multitudes were satisfied customers purchasing their copy of the latest Heritage Day edition (still available in the office!).
That aforementioned military tank got some primo parking – right in front of the Jackie Clarke Collection and the Cortina did not do badly at all, getting into a good spot on Tone Street.
With people constantly coming and going from access points at every corner of the town, it is extremely difficult to quantify the actual size of the crowd. To attempt to do so accurately is a fool’s errand but it is fair to say that this year’s attendance was that of many thousands.
After all, where else can you go to get butter churning and blacksmiths on the same streets in this day and age? To get the unmistakable whiff of a steam engine and the ingenuity of woodworkers. They are crafts and creations that may be of little relevance in the modern-day economy - in the era of mass production, AI and smart toasters - but there is a clear yearning for the crafts of the past.
For grandparents and those of an older generation, there is a nostalgic desire to see how things once were in the earlier days of their lives. For parents, there is a desire to teach the next generation how things were in the stories that their parents told them and for the kids, there is the innate desire to learn.
For people of all ages who seek that nostalgia and knowledge there will, hopefully, always be Heritage Day. For everyone else, there is food, drink, music, history, heritage, culture and the ‘Céad míle fáilte go dtí Béal an Átha’. How could you go wrong?
