Riverfest 2016

Bored_lad

I think this year's Riverfest was a good success and I hope to see them built on it next year and improve the advertising of it. Including the new board walk etc would also be a good idea.

johnnyryan89

With the fireworks next year even anytime they leave fireworks off at the castle they should block the bridges off to traffic, twice the same person decided to walk out in front of my car when going over Thomond Bridge last night and I'd say it was probably the same on Sarsfield Bridge.

bazkennedy

Must say I was very impressed with everything this year. Made a few trips down to the village throughout the week. When the sun came up on Sunday after the race, there was a great buzz around the place

As with any big event there were a few minor tweaks they could make but overall I'd class this as a success.

Poxyshamrock

A lot complaining about anti social behaviour at Riverfest on Live95fm. I was lucky enough not to see any trouble....but at the same time, I didn't see one guard on the beat in my four days around town.

Limerick91

Poxyshamrock wrote: »

A lot complaining about anti social behaviour at Riverfest on Live95fm. I was lucky enough not to see any trouble....but at the same time, I didn't see one guard on the beat in my four days around town.

Did not see any anti social behaviour myself either.
Any idea why the bar was not open testerday?

bazkennedy

Limerick91 wrote: »

Any idea why the bar was not open testerday?

I was talking to the manager on Saturday and he said he only got the license for Friday to Sunday. He said he'd like to have a second bar next year to manage the queue a bit better

Limerick91

bazkennedy wrote: »

I was talking to the manager on Saturday and he said he only got the license for Friday to Sunday. He said he'd like to have a second bar next year to manage the queue a bit better

The queue for drinks was a disaster. It was about 6 deep on Saturday with no system to queuing and 2 people behind the bar. An in/out system like at the Big Top gigs would be better

bazkennedy

And a separate queue for returning glasses

Jofspring

Ya an in and out queue system would have helped. I stood for about 10 mins without budging so just headed off the the Locke Bar instead.

bigpink

The beerzone should be a seperate area and better controlled

Townie_P

bazkennedy wrote: »

I was talking to the manager on Saturday and he said he only got the license for Friday to Sunday. He said he'd like to have a second bar next year to manage the queue a bit better

They could have at least rectified it over the weekend by using barriers to form an In/Out queuing system. It's not rocket science. Enter on the right, get served in the centre, exit on the left. It was a complete joke. I gave up on it myself but even friends who got served couldn't be bothered queuing again for more. Minimum of two bars needed there, I would say three bars needed based on the crowd there on Saturday. You need free flowing queues, otherwise a lot of people couldn't be arsed with it. Also in terms of returning the Stein, I thought they should have had a collector going around for those and to give people the fiver back rather than returnees clogging up the bar queue.

bigpink

The position of the bar was a farce
Event management professionals haha

crusha101

Thought this year was a great success,
Disappointed that the new boardwalk was ignored,
Arthurs quay park was buzzing all weekend long but there were 7 or 8 foot barriers erected around the perimeter and no passers by could see into the park which i felt killed the atmosphere, i assume the barriers were a form of crowd on control but they really took from the atmosphere, some people who spent the weekend in town didnt even know there was anything on in the park besides the few rides

Red King

This year was a marked improvement on previous years which were a total shambolic fiasco.

In saying that, there is still a lot of room for improvement, number one for me being the utterly amateur hour social media and internet presence for this festival which has been running for several years now.

It still hasn't got a dedicated riverfest website. This is just unbelievable.

Redirecting to a single page on Limerick.ie is not good enough. It needs an active year round website with detailed information in sections for all the events and activities taking place. It also needs a section for accommodation/route planning/parking for people planning on visiting from outside Limerick. All of this needs to be co-ordinated with facebook and twitter pages.

I hope they continue and build upon the water sports side of things in future years. To do this properly they need to involve and co-operate with NevSail and GoWest - they were brilliant this weekend with their kayaking, sailing, zorbing, rockclimbing and archery events. Most of that being GoWest based at the boat club. It was all free and great fun. I hope they continue with the displays from the jet ski's and the likes but make the performance times and days more prominent on their websites. I missed the display taking place before the fireworks and I was raging. Never knew that was happening.

As for the fireworks they were great. I hope they are consistently as good each year. Top marks there.

The riverfest village has a lot of potential - I am wondering perhaps if the bbq would be better located in Arthurs Quay Park and the Riverfest Village situated along the boardwalk from Poor Man's Kilkee up towards Clohessy's.

They definitely need to incorporate that boardwalk section next year.

The Carnival Rides however are a total and utter rip-off. That needs a rethink. 3 euro for less than 5 minutes is just robbery.

I also thought some of the "Continental Market Stalls" were again, total crap.

EDIT: Another feature that should be on the website is the events taking place at night - I totally missed the Castle concert and Big Top concert. And on a separate note, King Johns Castle needs to be brought into the festival more too.

bigpink

Castle was a private gig run by dolans

Red King

Nothing stopping them from featuring listings of what's on Riverfest weekend.

Dolans undoubtedly seized upon the Riverfest weekend crowds in putting on that gig.

Likewise with the Big Top gig.

zulutango

It was a solid improvement on recent years. There's a lot of scope to improve further but it seems to be going in the right direction.

One thing that struck me was that there seemed to be more music gigs on. This was like a throwback to the better years of the festival, and its predecessor 'Paddy Expo' in the 90's. And perhaps that's what Riverfest should be - a music festival primarily with other things such as the water activities, carnival, bbq, etc on the side?

The weather helped in a big way this year and the fact that the Great Limerick Run was more organised than usual meant there was a good vibe in town.

MilfordBud

Red King wrote: »

And on a separate note, King Johns Castle needs to be brought into the festival more too.

Good point. If only they had some sort of a walkway or bridge that connected Arthur's Quay Park to the castle..... (runs for cover)

Red King

johnnyryan89

Just passed a couple of stalls on the boardwalk with a few table and chairs out, think it was fusion food or something.

panda100

johnnyryan89 wrote:

Just passed a couple of stalls on the boardwalk with a few table and chairs out, think it was fusion food or something.

They doing that every Wednesday during the summer. Great idea imo

johnnyryan89

panda100 wrote: »

They doing that every Wednesday during the summer. Great idea imo

Yeah I thought it looked nice when passing. Was across from Clohessys so hopefully when house limerick go in there that they'll start using it too, really makes a difference to the place.

Berty

Works ongoing today in Clohessys so hopefully they open soon and make use of the river.

Maybe like Lapps Quay in cork without the wet house cork has in it by the Quay.

godfrey

celligraphy wrote: »

Heard teenagers aren't allowed into Arthur's quay park without an adult , some people have been posting into the riverfest Facebook page reporting a lot of teens being turned away due to drink being served in Arthur's quay bit weird

Well, if you want to cut out antisocial behaviour, there will be a cost, and this is a small price to pay. Spot on in my opinion.

g

godfrey

ABEasy wrote: »

It is nevsail watersports doing the limerick kayaking tours btw, saw they are doing free kayaking, sup & boat tours from hunt museum both Saturday & Sunday on their Facebook page.

Heard all the traders entry fees are more than doubled this year, meaning they have to up their prices to cover costs!! When you are being charged €6 for a burger or €3.5 for a coffee, ask why the council are allowing this non Limerick based events management company rip off Limerick people, whom ultimately pay the price!!

Plus any truth that the events management company have subcontracted the organisation to a 3rd party??

Hang on a second... It took a non-limerick company to make it the success that it was. The former Limerick company created nothing but profit for themselves and provided a shambles event year after year. You can be damn sure the council spent no extra money this year and there was a massive increase in standards. Maybe you're related to this Limerick company?

g

Red King

godfrey wrote: »

Hang on a second... It took a non-limerick company to make it the success that it was. The former Limerick company created nothing but profit for themselves and provided a shambles event year after year. You can be damn sure the council spent no extra money this year and there was a massive increase in standards. Maybe you're related to this Limerick company?

g

Futureama made a balls of Riverfest and other events in Limerick for years.

Grooveyard I agree improved things in the right direction. Now hopefully they'll take a serious look at the St. Patrick's Day parade because that is still a shambolic borefest