JFK 50 - The Homecoming - June 22nd

allthedoyles

TIME

EVENT

3.15 p.m. The Homecoming Parade begins its journey through the streets of New Ross
5.00 p.m. Homecoming Parade finishes on Quay


5.15 p.m. Guests of Honour arrive


5.40 p.m. Reception of An Taoiseach – Guard of Honour by Naval Service


6.00 p.m. The Ceremony of the Emigrant Flame commences with guests of honour An Taoiseach, Endy Kenny, T.D., Caroline Kennedy & Jean Kennedy Smith
6.05 p.m. Flame is taken from Naval Vessel LE Orla and brought to Kennedy Monument where it remains until final act of ceremony
6.15 p.m. Invited artists, performers, interviewees will take to the stage including, Anne Doyle, George Hook, Colm Toibin, Judy Collins, Michael Flatley, Michael Londra, Extreme Rhythm and New Ross and District Pipe Band.
7.30 p.m. The Torch is transferred along boardwalk to Emigrant Memorial. This transfer of the Flame will be performed by Special Olympic Athletes and other representatives of Community/Local Government. The Emigrant Flame will be lit by An Taoiseach, Caroline Kennedy and Jean Kennedy Smith.
7.40 p.m. Closing speeches by An Taoiseach and Caroline Kennedy and/or Jean Kennedy Smith
7.55 p.m. Close of Ceremony

Starting to enjoy the build-up to this major event

blackwave

Just past through the town recently and it looks so much better than it used the boardwalk and the lick of paint and have done wonders for the quay

allthedoyles

allthedoyles

20,000 people due Saturday 22nd June , but I can't find car parking arrangements anywhere.

allthedoyles

The eternal flame has been lit in Arlington USA and is on its way to New Ross

The background reminds me of the JFK Aboreteum

wolverette

There's a 48-page colour supplement in this week's Echo newspaper which includes interviews with local people, the Irish military, the American Peace Corps and people who worked with the Kennedys. It's going to be a big weekend

allthedoyles

The Emigrant Flame passes Poolbeg Lighthouse on board Le Orla , on its way to New Ross

allthedoyles

The scene is set

Conas

Are you able to get near the stage? Are alll those seats reserved?

MaxCharlie

will traffic be back to normal tomorrow I.e Sunday

allthedoyles

MaxCharlie wrote: »

will traffic be back to normal tomorrow I.e Sunday

Not just traffic .... New Ross is now back to normal .............the Festival is over . ( for now )

allthedoyles

Emigrant Flame

Busted Flat.

As a matter of interest, who's homecoming is it. I thought the guy was dead.

allthedoyles

The Eternal Flame is now burning on New Ross Quay

Busted Flat.

allthedoyles wrote: »

The Eternal Flame is now burning on New Ross Quay

Who pays for the gas.

allthedoyles

Busted Flat. wrote: »

As a matter of interest, who's homecoming is it. I thought the guy was dead.

35 relations of President John F. Kennedy arrived in Ireland to celebrate the 50th anniverary of JFK visit to Ireland in 1963 .

In the year of the Gathering , it was a first homecoming for many of the Kennedy clan , and they really enjoyed it .

somegirl2009

Hmmm.........Good question !

Busted Flat.

allthedoyles wrote: »

35 relations of President John F. Kennedy arrived in Ireland to celebrate the 50th anniverary of JFK visit to Ireland in 1963 .

In the year of the Gathering , it was a first homecoming for many of the Kennedy clan , and they really enjoyed it .

That should be the year of the grovelling. Bankrupt country gives expensive party to the well heeled. SNA's get the boot.

oldyouth

Celebrating an anniversary of a visit is a little lame. However, if it brought more money to the area than it cost, then fair play to the organisers

allthedoyles

oldyouth wrote: »

Celebrating an anniversary of a visit is a little lame. However, if it brought more money to the area than it cost, then fair play to the organisers

Was at the celebrations yedterday and didn't spend any money . Would think it unlikely that revenue would outdo expenditure in the short-term .

Lets see over the next 50 years if it was worthwhile .:)

Leo Demidov

You couldn't spend money there yesterday, very little of the usual gourmet food stalls etc. Nothing to keep a young family entertained, parade was poxy, the whole event evolved around the "VIPs". Don't think it got nearly the crowd that was expected, the unfortunate clash with other festivals in the area probably didn't help in this regard. Only for the weather held, the place would have cleared straight after the parade.

waynewex

Couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it on Sky News, ha.

WexfordWarrior

I'm sorry to say but this was a lame ass effort. I went there early expecting the traffic and crowds to be big. Car parks were still closed at 11.30 a.m. We drove into town without a problem and parked near to town without a problem, but not in an official jfk50 carpark.

There was a few tatty craft stalls, the pot belly pig stall from that guy who done masterchef was there. That was the only street food in place. There was no stalls for drinks.

Music was woeful all day.It was really morbid, downtempo rubbish and some of the worst cheap Irish trad stuff for those who didn't know any better.

I understand around the time of ceremony if the music changed and became more solemn but the "pre-party" music was simply desperate.

The atmosphere was ZERO! People looked glum and bemused as you passed them by and I even heard a few people talking as they passed by and they were saying how boring it was. God help anyone who paid and travelled from long distances or from abroad.

The café in the dunbrody centre closed at 1pm!!!!! Yes 13.00hrs!

We went to a local pub and some town clown started on some guy there.

Nobody was allowed sit on the "vip seats" even hours before the "vips" were near the place. I heard a steward telling a 90 year old woman she couldn't sit down because the seats were reserved for vip's. Then some creep announcing over the tannoy that everyone was to leave the vip seats! This was at around 1pm in the day...the vip's probably didnt arrive until 5.30. Bloody disgrace.

SKY News, RTE and TG4 were there with camera's and the amount of coverage this got nationwide on national radio, local radio, Newspapers etc should have been enough to spur the organisers to try do the job properly. If this wasn't enough inspiration for them the future looks bleak.

We finally had enough of trying to convince ourselves we were having a good time and left early. Came back to Wexford and the Atmosphere at the John Barry festival was 200 times better compared to jfk50 plus loads of food stalls and entertainment and a GREAT Atmosphere!!

The quayside in Ross is the only thing that benefited from this and the place got a clean up and maybe in the future will attract some visitors. The new boardwalk is nice and I must say the town did look lovely and clean and effort was put into the presentation of the place which is a bonus.

The festival was just a big letdown and really only something for kenny and co to hobnob at.

Busted Flat.

WexfordWarrior wrote: »

I'm sorry to say but this was a lame ass effort. I went there early expecting the traffic and crowds to be big. Car parks were still closed at 11.30 a.m. We drove into town without a problem and parked near to town without a problem, but not in an official jfk50 carpark.

There was a few tatty craft stalls, the pot belly pig stall from that guy who done masterchef was there. That was the only street food in place. There was no stalls for drinks.

Music was woeful all day.It was really morbid, downtempo rubbish and some of the worst cheap Irish trad stuff for those who didn't know any better.

I understand around the time of ceremony if the music changed and became more solemn but the "pre-party" music was simply desperate.

The atmosphere was ZERO! People looked glum and bemused as you passed them by and I even heard a few people talking as they passed by and they were saying how boring it was. God help anyone who paid and travelled from long distances or from abroad.

The café in the dunbrody centre closed at 1pm!!!!! Yes 13.00hrs!

We went to a local pub and some town clown started on some guy there.

Nobody was allowed sit on the "vip seats" even hours before the "vips" were near the place. I heard a steward telling a 90 year old woman she couldn't sit down because the seats were reserved for vip's. Then some creep announcing over the tannoy that everyone was to leave the vip seats! This was at around 1pm in the day...the vip's probably didnt arrive until 5.30. Bloody disgrace.

SKY News, RTE and TG4 were there with camera's and the amount of coverage this got nationwide on national radio, local radio, Newspapers etc should have been enough to spur the organisers to try do the job properly. If this wasn't enough inspiration for them the future looks bleak.

We finally had enough of trying to convince ourselves we were having a good time and left early. Came back to Wexford and the Atmosphere at the John Barry festival was 200 times better compared to jfk50 plus loads of food stalls and entertainment and a GREAT Atmosphere!!

The quayside in Ross is the only thing that benefited from this and the place got a clean up and maybe in the future will attract some visitors. The new boardwalk is nice and I must say the town did look lovely and clean and effort was put into the presentation of the place which is a bonus.

The festival was just a big letdown and really only something for kenny and co to hobnob at.

Why am I not surprised at that, they couldn't organize a R..e in a brothel.

What is the guy doing to earn his €200,000 plus salary for the gathering or grovelling.

somegirl2009

Well first of all im going to say what a great day it was for the JFK 50th anniversary, i have never seen New Ross look so well and so much preparation went into the event from a lot of people in the town!!

As for all the negative comments people are posting here all i can say is TYPICAL.. no matter what went on people will give out no matter what! what the country needs is less of the negative people like you and more positive people who actually do things apart from give out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Busted Flat.

somegirl2009 wrote: »

Well first of all im going to say what a great day it was for the JFK 50th anniversary, i have never seen New Ross look so well and so much preparation went into the event from a lot of people in the town!!

As for all the negative comments people are posting here all i can say is TYPICAL.. no matter what went on people will give out no matter what! what the country needs is less of the negative people like you and more positive people who actually do things apart from give out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The VIP section was well looked after, you could understand having a great time there.

Leo Demidov

The majority of people I've spoken to felt it could have been done a hell of a lot better, there's only so much time you can spend looking at the town, a significant number of people went on the beer cause there was Divil else to do. All of the downtown car parks were closed and empty, they could have been put to some positive use.

I commend the work that was done but it really could have been alot better. The river could have been better utilised, there could have been a sporting event at the running track, some street entertainment etc. Also, just to reiterate, the parade was poxy.

oldyouth

somegirl2009 wrote: »

Well first of all im going to say what a great day it was for the JFK 50th anniversary, i have never seen New Ross look so well and so much preparation went into the event from a lot of people in the town!!

As for all the negative comments people are posting here all i can say is TYPICAL.. no matter what went on people will give out no matter what! what the country needs is less of the negative people like you and more positive people who actually do things apart from give out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wexford Warrior gave a lot of specific examples of where the event was poor. Apart from saying the town looked well (I'm sure it did) what other 'positive' examples can you offer? It has nothing to do with negativity if the actual result of hard effort is a damp squib.

Dilbert75

It seemed to me that the event was well organised, the town looked great, the voluntary groups in the town did their best to make it a great day, there was ample parking + park & ride, etc. I for one was delighted that it wasn't peppered with stalls selling cheap tat and the obligatory funfair - it wasn't intended to be that kind of occasion.

There was national and international media exposure and we're left with a quay front that could equal just about any small town in the country and out-do most. Aside from the weather, the only two uncontrollables were whether people turned up and, if they did, whether or not they made an effort to enjoy what was there. If people didn't make that effort, that was them not contributing to the occasion - nobody else.

TBH I very much doubt that the intended audience was from the immediate area around the town. The national and international publicity, which was universally positive as far as I could see, will hopefully reap rewards for many years to come. I was running along the quay this evening and there were queues of people waiting to get their photos taken with the emigrant flame and the JFK statue. Whether or not you agree with the continued interest in JFK, that's got to be a good thing for the area and I think kudos are deserved by those who worked towards it for all these years.

Leo Demidov

That's a good one, i didn't enjoy myself because i didn't try hard enough? I too am glad that we weren't over run with cheap tat and tented enclaves but please do explain how one was to put in the day with a young family?

To say it wasn't marketed at particular groups is incorrect, they failed to deliver. End of. I would be the first to congratulate Michael Sheehan for all he has achieved but if an event that ultimately targets tourism can't entertain the citizens of the town for a few hours, how can you promote it as a tourist location.

somegirl2009

oldyouth wrote: »

Wexford Warrior gave a lot of specific examples of where the event was poor. Apart from saying the town looked well (I'm sure it did) what other 'positive' examples can you offer? It has nothing to do with negativity if the actual result of hard effort is a damp squib.

I don't feel the need to list specific examples on where the event was positive.

It is what it is.... everyone has different opinions.....so il just leave it at that--!