JOHN Drummey has paid tribute to the full and part-time volunteers who he described as being the life-blood of community festivals in Kerry and beyond.

His Public Relations business, John Drummey Communications, has won the Best PR Company Category in the Irish Festival Supplier Awards at the Association of Irish Festivals and Events Conference in Ballinasloe, Co Galway.

“I am delighted to have played a role in increasing the profile of a number of festivals and events since 2008. I have enjoyed working with the various full and part-time committee members without whom there would be very little fun and celebration in our towns and villages throughout the year. It is important to thank the local and national media for recognising the newsworthy events that take place at the festivals I have been fortunate enough to represent. A good PR photographer is also essential and to that end, Domnick Walsh deserves a special word of thanks.”

John Drummey Communications won the award after receiving nominations from Fenit Seabreeze Festival, Rose of Tralee International Festival and the Tír na nÓg Children’s Festival. He has also managed the PR needs for the upcoming Tralee Circus Festival and the Listowel Food Fair which took place earlier this month.

The two-day AOIFE Conference, themed “The Business of Fun” was attended by over 250 delegates representing 327 festivals from all over the island of Ireland. John was also a speaker at the conference where he presented a training workshop on how festivals can get the most from their regional radio stations.

John Drummey established his own PR Consultancy business in 2008, following a successful career as an award-winning broadcaster and journalist in Kerry, Dublin, Clare, Carlow, Kildare and Limerick.

For more details visit www.johndrummey.ie or call 087-7909487.

FLAME-eaters, jugglers, acrobats, stilt-walkers, a penny farthing, a bike on fire and inflatable illuminated sculptures will star in the spectacular parade on Friday 18^th November to mark the start of Tralee Circus Festival in association with Siamsa Tire.

Con Horgan, the Artistic Director of Tralee Circus Festival, said: “Children from all over Tralee and beyond should grab their parents and bring them to witness the greatest number of jugglers ever seen at one-time in Kerry. The parade will provide a flavour of the full menu that will be on offer to people of all ages at the Circus Siamsa Shows on Saturday at 2pm and 5pm. Tickets for all performances are available at Siamsa Tire.”

This unique parade will signal the start of the three-day Circus Festival when it leaves the Brandon Hotel at 6.30pm on Friday to make the short journey through town to Siamsa Tire for the official opening of the festival. The first performance of the weekend will feature a show by Tumble Circus at 8pm, followed by the Festival Club “Circus Sideshow” in the Brandon Hotel.

Con Horgan said that there will be an educational aspect to the weekend event with Circus Workshops for children on Saturday and Sunday at 11am & 12pm.

“We are keen to train the circus stars of the future, starting right here in Tralee. On Thursday 17^th November, I will treat a number of children in Scoil Mhic Easmainn, CBS Primary and Balloonagh Primary to a one-man clown show – Professor Plunger – as an appetiser ahead of Friday’s parade and Saturday’s Circus Siamsa shows.”

Full details of tickets to all events during the 2011 Tralee Circus Festival are available from www.traleecircusfestival.com or find us on Facebook.

JIMMY Deenihan hopes to develop his trapeze skills in one of the workshops at the 2011 Tralee Circus Festival in association Siamsa Tire next week from 18-20 November.

Speaking at the official launch of the festival at Siamsa Tire, the Minister for Arts, Heritage and Gaelteacht Affairs, said that for any town to host a festival at this time of year is very important to the local economy.

“The fact that Tralee Circus Festival has managed to increase its financial support from the Arts Council is a big endorsement of the event. There are not too many festivals supported by the Arts Council with only one-third of all applications receiving funding. Another very positive aspect of this festival is the emphasis on workshops and skill development. I was always a good trapeze artist and I hope to improve my skills in this area at the festival!”

Tralee Circus Festival in association with Siamsa Tire is Ireland’s only annual contemporary Circus Festival attracting clowns, jugglers, acrobats, trapeze artistes & families to Tralee every November since 2000.

Con Horgan, the Artistic Director of the Festival said: “The Arts Council has described the Circus Festival as being of particular strategic importance to the sector and to underline this, our funding was doubled in 2011. We were delighted that the Minister could officially launch the festival and it’s indicative of the festival’s progress. This support along with that from Siamsa Tire, the Brandon Hotel, Kerry County Council, Tralee Town Council and Holiday Tralee have allowed us to present an exciting and entertaining Festival for the participants and audience alike.”

Many local public representatives including Labour TD Arthur John Spring and the Mayor of Tralee Cllr Grace O’Donnell attended last night’s festival launch at Siamsa Tire Theatre.

They heard about the packed-programme of events that will get underway on Friday 18^th November with a parade from the Circus Convention space in the Brandon Hotel to Siamsa Tire Theatre. There will be contemporary circus style performances both inside and outside the theatre featuring LUXe spectacle performance group, inflatable structures and lots more.

One of the highlights from the opening night will take place after the parade, with the staging of Tumble Circus: “This is what we do for a living”. It is a funny and flexible show full of comic timing and even better gymnastic timing with slapstick acrobatics, hazardous aerial tricks and flying hula hoops to a great soundtrack. The Festival Club, in the residents’ bar of the Brandon Hotel, will offer the grown-ups a chance to let their wigs down after the show, designed by Siamsa Tire’s artiste-in-residence, Sandra Minchin and featuring variety performers, music and a few surprises.

On Saturday, Circus Siamsa will return with a truly unique family entertainment show with two matinees on Saturday 19^th November full of slapstick antics involving the most exciting and talented performers from all over the world handpicked by The Fanzini Brothers.

There will be a host of Kids Circus Workshops on Saturday 19^th and Sunday 20^th in the Brandon Hotel and Conference Centre.

Tickets for Tumble Circus are €16/€13.  Tickets for Circus Siamsa are €12 or €30 for a family of three, €40 for a family of four and admission to the Festival Club is only €5.

Tickets for all events are available from Siamsa Tire Theatre Box Office +353-66-7123055. A special accommodation rate of €35pps is also available at the Brandon Hotel when visitors mention the Circus Festival when booking for the event.

Tralee Circus Festival in association with Siamsa Tire will take place from 18^th to 20^th November and it is proudly supported by The Arts Council, Holiday Tralee, Brandon Hotel, Kerry County Council and Tralee Town Council.

Full details available from www.traleecircusfestival.com or find us on Facebook.

THE big cheese at this year’s Listowel Food Fair was Dick Williams who scooped the prestigious Sheila Broderick National Farmhouse Cheese Award for Coolea Farmhouse.

He was among a host of winners in various categories who were announced at a special celebration of food last Thursday night in the company of Ireland’s Culinary Queen, Catherine Fulvio.

The Chairperson of Listowel Food Fair, Michelle O’Connor, said: “The festival was a tasty, flavoursome and entertaining success. The level of talent continues to rise each year with a wonderful array of food in all categories. From Philip O’Connor who took the Best Emerging Food Award for “Seymour’s Biscuits” to Fiona Hunt (13) who’s Chocolate Chips Cookies secured runner-up spot in the Junior Home Baker of the Year competition, the quality was top class. All of our events were very well attended from Wednesday through to Sunday with many visitors travelling from outside the county to join in at our seminars and food trails. Hundreds of people were entertained and educated by the wonderful Catherine Fulvio on Thursday night and the Saturday Live Kitchen was also a resounding success.”

The Kerry Food Book of the Year Award went to Edward Hayden for his book entitled Food to Love published by O’Brien Press. Theresa Foley from Tralee collected the Kerry Food Hero Award while her Whoopy Cakes were the Best Emerging Baking product. The Bord Bia Quality Mark for schools was awarded to Hazelwood College Dromcollogher, Co Limerick with Presentation Secondary School Listowel and Killarney Community College also taking prizes in that competition.

Noelle O’Keeffe from Ranelagh, Dublin won the Home Baker of the Year Award (adult) for her Swiss Roll while Emma O’Connell from Hazelwood College took the Junior Prize.

Awards were presented to the winners in a number of specialty categories with Theresa Foley from Tralee collecting the Kerry Food Hero Award while her Whoopy Cakes were the Best Emerging Baking product. The other best Emerging Products winners were Eva Garcia (Confectionary) from the The Swee Life Co, Billy & Leah Sweeney (Meat) for Leah’s Gourmet Pudding, Henry Hegarty (Condiments) for Wokabout and Margaret McCarthy (Dairy) for Kenmare Ice Cream.

“The Listowel Food Fair offers a platform for new food producers to demonstrate their skills and hopefully make the breakthrough to a successful footing in the commercial food sector. But it’s also much more than that as the information seminars on nutrition, women’s health, the future of the Dairy Industry were all very well attended,” said Michelle O’Connor.

It wasn’t all about food at the Catherine Fulvio Demonstration event on Thursday night when Miss Universe Ireland, Aoife Hannon selected Peggy Brick from Listowel as the Best Dressed Person sponsored by Coco Boutique and Aoife Hannon Milliner. Anne Fitzmaurice won two complimentary Aer Arann flights from Kerry to Dublin. In the battle of the mad yolks on Saturday, Billy Keane cracked his opponent Joe “the Vicar” Murphy in the Omelette Challenge.

The organisers of Listowel Food Fair paid tribute the event sponsors and in particular North & East Kerry Development and Bord Bia with the County Development Board, Utensils, Garvey’s Supervalu, The Kerryman, Kerry Group, AIB Bank, Dairymaster.

“We also wish to thank the local community and various businesses who played a key role in organising this year’s festival. Plans are already underway to make the next year’s Listowel Food Fair better than before and the provisional dates for the diary are Wednesday 31^st October to Sunday 4^th November 2012,” said Michelle O’Connor.

For more details of how to become a part of Ireland’s longest running food fair, visit www.listowelfoodfair.com or find us on Facebook.