Riverfest 2018

osarusan

Any chance the city would be able to demolish the old Dunnes building and extend the park out to Sarsfield street? Get rid of that road that runs between the two places as well.

Shn99

An excellent weekend all around, the weather really brought out the crowds too. Fireworks display last night was magnificent. Limerick leader reporting that it was hailed the most successful ever with 100,000 attending and that it contributed €7m to the local economy.

kilburn

Only 7m....... not the usual 10m.....

Shn99

kilburn wrote: »

Only 7m....... not the usual 10m.....

7m directly, 10m to the wider economy. was predicted to be 5m directly so its a good sign

Vladimir Poontang

Lol the usual bull**** claims

moleyv

Yeah cause nobody was going to be out for the bank holiday if it wasn't for Riverfest

Glenomra

They'd be out alright, but in kilkee, ballybunion, Galway etc. This year's Riverfest has been brilliant for the city. Thats just not my conclusion but many family members etc who virtually never go to the city nowadays. If the powers that be, developers, etc don't see the potential of the city after this weekend, they never will.

moleyv

I live in Dublin these days, I made it to Riverfest, it was good. I also made it to Ballybunion...

Butterfly25

Vladimir Poontang wrote: »

Some scumbags have brought a Llama down to Arthur's Quay and people are queuing to get their photo with it

FFS

Limerick Animal Welfare have put on their Facebook page that the llama is now in a foster home and is safe.

panda100

Brilliant weekend in Limerick. I didn't get out as much as I'm (supposedly!) studying for exams but what I was at was brilliant. There were far more activities centered around the river this year. Great atmosphere and buzz all over town and really highlights the potential of the city.
100% agree with the poster suggesting use of the potato market. We could have had community feasts in there, an activity hub, river nature trails, market stalls, the list is endless. I was down at Merchants Quay this morning for SwimableLimerick social swim and there was hundreds on the shore and in The Curraghgour Boat Club. A few stalls or activities in The Potato Market would really have drawn more people down to that part of the river which really is, imo, the most scenic and beautiful part of the river.

My only critique of the festival would be that the O'Connell street should have been closed to traffic, especially outside Pennys which was very unpleasant. I went down their with my nieces and nephew yesterday and I was worried for their safety so we had to leave.

Otherwise, great weekend (except for the study and fomo )

zulutango

It was truly a fantastic weekend. The crowds at the Great Limerick Run were phenomenal (13000 competitors alone!!). Great credit has to go to the organisers for their ambition and developing this year on year. Ten years ago, the idea that you'd have such a large running event in the city would have been considered fanciful. The knock-on effects, in terms of advertising the city and generating a confidence and positive vibe are huge I think. Up there with Munster Rugby perhaps? A step forward now would be to increase the prize fund and get the international stars over. Imagine if we had the likes of Mo Farah or Eliud Kipchoge or Mary Keitany racing on the streets of Limerick. We can dream

iguana

Does the run have many spectators along the route? The route for the marathon goes down my street and not that many people even come to their front gate to cheer the runners on. I used to live by the Dublin marathon route and the streets would be lined with people. I wonder if the fact that the roads aren't closed off discourage spectators from gathering.

mitresize5

there was great support all along the north circular road anyway.
Lots of families out with sweats, water and hoses trying to cool people down.
Lots of amateur musicians and dj's as well.
Less so on the main Ennis Rd but you'd expect that as there a less residential houses

panda100

iguana wrote:

Does the run have many spectators along the route? The route for the marathon goes down my street and not that many people even come to their front gate to cheer the runners on. I used to live by the Dublin marathon route and the streets would be lined with people. I wonder if the fact that the roads aren't closed off discourage spectators from gathering.

One of the reasons I love the great limerick run and I propose one of the reasons why it is so successful, is it's the onky race I've done in Ireland that rivals DCM in relation to support along the route.

If you are in anyway involved in any sports club in limerick you'll know heaps of people doing the run too. There was plenty of support out from the estates in dooradoyle, along O'Connell Ave, all through town and North Circular Rd also.

What we need now is a Limerick City Traithlon.

washman3

kilburn wrote: »

Only 7m....... not the usual 10m.....

Getting confused with the rugby games...
They're each worth €10m ....:D:D

iguana

mitresize5 wrote: »

there was great support all along the north circular road anyway.
Lots of families out with sweats, water and hoses trying to cool people down.
Lots of amateur musicians and dj's as well.
Less so on the main Ennis Rd but you'd expect that as there a less residential houses

That's cool. I guess that we live too near the start of it, so not too many people are up and about at 9am on a Sunday morning. We normally have breakfast in the porch so we can see when the runners come by and can run out and cheer them on.

zulutango

iguana wrote: »

Does the run have many spectators along the route? The route for the marathon goes down my street and not that many people even come to their front gate to cheer the runners on. I used to live by the Dublin marathon route and the streets would be lined with people. I wonder if the fact that the roads aren't closed off discourage spectators from gathering.

I do a lot of running and events all over Ireland, and a few internationally, and Limerick is one of the best supported. I ran the first 16km of the marathon on Sunday before an injury forced me to drop out. By that stage we'd run along Hyde Road, O'Connell Avenue, through the city, out to Castletroy and back in by UL, and the support was very good. As a runner I wouldn't say it was lacking in that department at all. And then, the support towards the city for the finish is fairly phenomenal. I've been at well-regarded international marathons in Europe where there wouldn't be those kinds of crowds. What GLR cleverly do is they tie in the 6 miler race with the more serious half and full marathon, and this brings huge numbers to the event, so you get a lot of families lining the route all the way along, as well as the locals coming out of their houses.

pigtown

Some information from the May 2018 Chief Executive's Report

Riverfest 2018 saw audience attendance increase from 2017 by 18% to just over 100,000. The festival which is estimated to be worth over €5 million to the Mid West region has undergone a strategic review since 2016.
This review has taken place as part of the Culture and Arts Office’s Let’s Talk Festivals research report and strategy framework development, which is currently being drafted to inform a framework strategy for festivals and events in Limerick. As part of this report,
Riverfest is identified as one of five key civic festivals and currently ranks as the second largest festival in the city and county after EVA with average audience growth since 2016 at 19% per annum.
The development and delivery of Riverfest by Limerick City and County Council is in line with Objective 2 of the Limerick Cultural Strategy 2016 -2030:
“To grow the physical and human resources, infrastructure and support for staging large scale interventions, performances, festivals and
productions.”

The Riverfest Business Plan 2016-2020 outlines a number of key objectives and strategic actions undertaken in 2018 as part of this strategy including:
• Riverfest Vision and Programme Categories: Look,Taste, Adventure, Big Bang.
• Extension of festival site along the water edge running from the Hunt Museum through Arthur’s Quay Park and along the Boardwalk.
• Consolidation of partnerships with key businesses, organisations, promoters and venues. e.g. contribution of €46,000 to Great Limerick Run annually.
• Expansion of the water programme this year sponsored by The Strand Hotel.
• Evaluation and reporting e.g. the first audience survey undertaken in 2017 and a second in 2018 allowing of comparative analysis of audience growth and feedback.

zulutango

Any review of the name of the festival?

BobMc

Has anyone also considered it seems more successful than usual was due the particularly fantastic weather we had for that weekend.

Make it a damp, overcast, lashing weekend, big drop in numbers

panda100

Nigel Dugdale had a good piece on rethinking Riverfest in last week's Leader. I agree with most of it. Late April/ early May is a poor time of year for any river based activity, Riverfest would be much better later on in the Summer and on a separate weekend to Great Limerick Run.

https://www.limerickleader.ie/news/home/317517/nigel-dugdale-limerick-and-proud-time-for-radical-riverfest-rethink.html

damowill

panda100 wrote: »

Nigel Dugdale had a good piece on rethinking Riverfest in last week's Leader. I agree with most of it. Late April/ early May is a poor time of year for any river based activity, Riverfest would be much better later on in the Summer and on a separate weekend to Great Limerick Run.

https://www.limerickleader.ie/news/home/317517/nigel-dugdale-limerick-and-proud-time-for-radical-riverfest-rethink.html

The foundation is there for a great weekend but what would help is more funds for better events. And bring local clubs & organisations into it like the rowing clubs to hold a regatta and other similar events.

I'm not convinced moving the date would actually help. I live in the city and its clear that on the the June/August bank holiday weekends, there is a mass exodus of people to West Clare, Kerry, Galway, etc. A lot of families tend to head away for the weekend which isnt really the case in May when they are still at school and its just the start of the summer. The June weekend was again pretty quiet around Limerick imo. The weather was amazing and it brought out a few people around the town but not huge numbers and if the festival was on, i dont think it would better the numbers Vs the May weekend.

Riverfest has been a success but everyone agrees it could be a lot better and yes the Great Limerick Run brings in a huge amount of people on the Sunday. The saturday is all about Riverfest in my view, Sunday is all about the Run.

Poxyshamrock

Not too convinced on changing the date either.

A) GLR jumped on the back of Riverfest so why should they now be forced to move to accommodate the run?

While Riverfest has had its ups and downs over the years, it can’t be denied that people in Limerick have always supported it and it has become the key feature of the May bank holiday weekend. Why change it now?

keane2097

The idea that each runner in the GLR brings an average of three supporters seems absolutely bananas. I would have thought bringing three people to watch you running a marathon would be a stretch, not to mind the shorter distances. Who brings three supporters to a 10k run?

Personally I thought having the two things on together was a great combination and gave a greater buzz than either would have had separately - there was an actual city wide sense of festivity. Separate the two and you lose that - which is exactly the situation in which that sense of 'emperor's new clothes' would emerge for both events. Without the Riverfest the run is just an inconvenience for most people not taking part, without the run the Riverfest is just a few disconnected stalls and activities of varying quality. When both are on together there's actually a bit of a buzz, a nice few interesting things to go have a look at etc.

Just to note the article suggests Riverfest should be a 'multi-disciplinary arts, culture, music and family friendly festival' which I think is a fairly unhelpful and hand-wavy statement. If there are specific events or types of events that would improve the weekend they ought to be suggested. There are already a variety of artistic, cultural, music and family friendly events on. It's doubtful any ideas will be put forward that would make up for the diminution that would happen if the GLR was no longer a part of the weekend however.

panda100

Yes good points Keane. I guess the May Bank Holiday is synonymous with Riverfest now and Riverfest goes hand in hand with the Great Limerick Run. Think there is definitely scope for another civic festival in limerick city later on in the Summer too though with more of a focus on the River and river activities.

keane2097

panda100 wrote: »

Yes good points Keane. I guess the May Bank Holiday is synonymous with Riverfest now and Riverfest goes hand in hand with the Great Limerick Run. Think there is definitely scope for another civic festival in limerick city later on in the Summer too though with more of a focus on the River and river activities.

I would love to see more activity on the river in general. Good to see a lot of kayaking and some swimming going on recently.

geotrig

I agree with keane2097 here and they both work well together without one the other wold be less successfull. I think the "3" people may be family coming to support mammy /daddy !
Also it sits nicely in the calender no big competition events for either the run or fest and i would prefer if it stayed in the May bank holiday for those reasons ,if it was June a lot of people would be gone to seaside etc and more competition. and no matter what we arent guaranteed good weather for any of those days !
I suppose the only things you could do to improve is have more inclusive events and add more events (think like the "granny" but smaller scale) , I didnt queue to go into the park this year and wont ever queue they need to try to incorperate the river ,riverside and city and castle more into it ,maybe a 3 bridges regatta /race for the rowing clubs and swim race from bridge to bridge or something ,thats what i expect when i here of a riverfest !! although again tide and weather could halt these.

Mc Love

The definitely need to close off more of the city to traffic on the saturday and sunday. Roads around Arthurs Quay should be cordoned off and the section of O'Connell st outside Penneys should be closed off too.

keane2097

Mc Love wrote: »

The definitely need to close off more of the city to traffic on the saturday and sunday. Roads around Arthurs Quay should be cordoned off and the section of O'Connell st outside Penneys should be closed off too.

That's probably a big part of why there seems to be such a buzz while the run is on - loads of people around, loads of activity and the streets given over to people walking around soaking it up.

panda100

keane2097 wrote:

I would love to see more activity on the river in general. Good to see a lot of kayaking and some swimming going on recently.

Thomond swim on this weekend if you fancy a swim yourself Keane!