Riverfest 2015

bigpink

Any buzz about it?

Poxyshamrock

Meh! Riverfest is boring at this stage.

I love Limerick and try not to be negative about the city but I've lost interest in Riverfest. It's the same thing year in, year out and they seem to be moving it away from the river too.

bigpink

The poster and the line up same every year
Call it the Denmark st pub festival

zulutango

It's lame alright. Has been for years. If not for the Great Limerick Run it would be terrible.

I don't think the organisers are up to it, to be honest. The same crowd are given the contract to run it by the Council year after year and it's piss poor year after year. What are the bets we'll have a street BBQ, and a half hour of fireworks on the Saturday. Don't get me started on the totally contrived 'national powerboat championships', their annual sop to the 'river' theme.

It's time for this event to be contracted out to a decent events company who might actually come up with an exciting programme that this city deserves.

Wise Old Elf

It's contracted to Grooveyard this year (same crew as Patrick's day parade).
I do agree though, it's been the same for years and needs refreshing. It's great to have something like it in Limerick and there's usually a good buzz around, just something different needed.

zulutango

The name is fairly bad too, isn't it? Something incorporating the name of the city would get more recognition nationally and internationally I think.

Examples - Dublin Film Festival, Galway Arts Week, Cork Jazz Festival.

Treepole

zulutango wrote: »

It's lame alright. Has been for years. If not for the Great Limerick Run it would be terrible.

I don't think the organisers are up to it, to be honest. The same crowd are given the contract to run it by the Council year after year and it's piss poor year after year. What are the bets we'll have a street BBQ, and a half hour of fireworks on the Saturday. Don't get me started on the totally contrived 'national powerboat championships', their annual sop to the 'river' theme.

It's time for this event to be contracted out to a decent events company who might actually come up with an exciting programme that this city deserves.

It is contracted out to a new events company this year. Unfortunately the lineup of events doesn't seem much different. The Continental Market is like a second rate version of the regular market.

With regards to river activities the website says : "The day will feature a Sailing Regatta, Gandelow racing and kayaking to name but a few of the events lined up for the public to enjoy." To name but a few - i.e. we haven't come up with any other events yet.

Treepole

Also the name has been changed to Riverfest Limerick

Xennon

This festival needs a submarine!

Toffeeboy

Here's the link for the events anyway

http://www.limerick.ie/riverfest/whatson/2012-05-05riverfestfireworks.html

Hopefully the sun comes out

wingnut

They should bring in some tall ships, Dungarvan had one at their maritime that you could go on. The had the Garda water dog unit and loads of little bits and pieces - coast guard demo etc.

BBQ is grand but its not exactly engaging or different or particularly maritime.

They should have seaplanes and bring in maybe a viking splash and the like. As others have said it centered on food/pubs which is a bit meh.

pappyodaniel

Toffeeboy wrote: »

Here's the link for the events anyway

http://www.limerick.ie/riverfest/whatson/2012-05-05riverfestfireworks.html

Hopefully the sun comes out

Nathan Carter? Is that the best they could do?!?

LB6

https://www.facebook.com/RiverfestLimerick?fref=ts

LB6

You've to laugh - it's Riverfest limerick - but it's got a GALWAY contact telephone number!
To be brutally honest - it's the same thing, year in year out. Overpriced. Looks like a Boot sale when you walk off down Michael Street!
They need a new PR person too. There's been no advertising about it. I saw one sign lately.

Cookiemunster

LB6 wrote: »

You've to laugh - it's Riverfest limerick - but it's got a GALWAY contact telephone number!
To be brutally honest - it's the same thing, year in year out. Overpriced. Looks like a Boot sale when you walk off down Michael Street!
They need a new PR person too. There's been no advertising about it. I saw one sign lately.

It's got a Galway number because the new events company running it this year is based in Galway. Therefore there's already a new PR person. How about waiting to see how the weekend goes before saying it's the same as always.

LB6

At least in the last few years we knew that something was coming up. There were flags on all the lamp standards on Shannon Bridge.

This year - nothing. Not great start for the NEW PR company!.

I'll hold off on the same ol' same ol' until I see something different!

Will it happen?

panda100

I know this is a bit off topic but I have friends visiting for riverfest/great Limerick run this weekend. Is the speakeasy/Dr johns upstairs in The Blind Pig still opened? I really want to go there but saw something on their facebook a few weeks ago that they are closing.

BuilderPlumber

pappyodaniel wrote: »

Nathan Carter? Is that the best they could do?!?

NC is not the worst by any means but he is again an example of how they do things in Ireland. I think NC replaced the much worse Mike Denver who a few years ago was the chosen one.

Notice how each of these is flavour of the month one minute and dropped the next? Not a fan of Mike Denver the act (as distinct from the person: don't know what he is like as a person so can't judge; or even as a singer: he has a good singing voice if he got rid of the fake accent and the poor fare he sings). The act is created by the industry not by him and he has to follow. Nathan Carter the same (though he is imo better but just ok not anything exciting). And what about Jedward? If this festival was in 2011, they'd be all over. But now they're dropped.

In such an environment, real music is not allowed to develop. I have musician friends who constantly tell me how hard it is to make meaningful music in Ireland. Some good festivals like the Cork Jazz one are exceptions to the rule but most festivals are like the Riverside one: no theme, no effort, just a fulfilling of a contract.

wingnut

They should have had Garth Brooks.

Insect Overlord

panda100 wrote: »

I know this is a bit off topic but I have friends visiting for riverfest/great Limerick run this weekend. Is the speakeasy/Dr johns upstairs in The Blind Pig still opened? I really want to go there but saw something on their facebook a few weeks ago that they are closing.

They're reopening the basement this weekend! I think their old Facebook page might be disappearing soon, but no sign of any of the bars going.

Treepole

Passed by the Continental Market earlier. Looks to be considerably smaller than other years.

Un Croissant

Just walked through the market. For its sized it has multiple of the same stalls. Absolutely mind boggling.

Wise Old Elf

Un Croissant wrote: »

Just walked through the market. For its sized it has multiple of the same stalls. Absolutely mind boggling.

Just thinking the same thing. The hot dog/burger people seem to have 3/4 stalls there

That being said, it's a little less compact which makes it easier to walk up and down the street, I found it too packed in previous years.

Un Croissant

Wise Old Elf wrote: »

Just thinking the same thing. The hot dog/burger people seem to have 3/4 stalls there

That being said, it's a little less compact which makes it easier to walk up and down the street, I found it too packed in previous years.

Definitely less packed. Last year was crazy, but multiple hot dog, crepe and sweet stalls don't make for an international market.

Swiper the fox

Not sure why I expected differently but I was a little taken aback when I walked through at around 1030 this morning and saw the guy who does the tartiflette dumping bags of frozen potato slices on the pan. Like someone else said it seemed to be a lot of the same things, nothing to attract me except possibly the guy with the massive grill/smoker stylie thing. Why would you want to buy pick'n'mix or nuts there honestly. As for the baklava they are up against a serious operator in the guy in the market (Ketif??)
I don't like to knock things for no reason and hope this weekend will be great but that market is pure rubbish, at least if i'm to be overcharged for crap I'd prefer the money to stay in Limerick.

lockman

Swiper the fox wrote: »

As for the baklava they are up against a serious operator in the guy in the market (Ketif??)
I don't like to knock things for no reason and hope this weekend will be great but that market is pure rubbish, at least if i'm to be overcharged for crap I'd prefer the money to stay in Limerick.

Sefik is the name of the market baklava man. He is, as you said, a serious operator, and a gentleman to boot. I think he trades under the name of 'baile abhaile'.

Wise Old Elf

I'd agree, I'd prefer to go to the normal Milk Market than anything along there, and I hate to knock it.
You'd expect there to be continental bread, cheese, etc that you can't normally get here. Any chance more stalls will appear tomorrow?

On a side note, it looks like anyone running on Sunday is going to get rained on (yours truly included, though only the short run)

Insect Overlord

I much prefer running in the rain.

Wise Old Elf

An File wrote: »

I much prefer running in the rain.

I go faster! I just don't like it

wingnut

Xennon wrote: »

This festival needs a submarine!

Looking at the weather today it wouldnt have been a bad idea!

whatdoicare

So, is it worth dragging my family into town tomorrow, anything new or interesting?

angeldaisy

Anyone know what the parking situation is like? Planning on heading in around lunchtime from the Dublin side, trying to head to Arthurs Quay Park.

Wise Old Elf

angeldaisy wrote: »

Anyone know what the parking situation is like? Planning on heading in around lunchtime from the Dublin side, trying to head to Arthurs Quay Park.

Loads of road closures today for the various runs. Forget about Arthur's quay. Somewhere near the Clarion/Dock road might be your best bet for parking.
Check out the riverfest website for what roads are closed.

FobleAsNuck

http://www.limerick.ie/festivals/riverfest/whatsnew/2015-04-17-riverfest-2015-road-closures

angeldaisy

Thanks for that.

But what we do really badly here is just list off a load of road names. Where's the map, where does it give advice on best places to park.
We really don't make it easy for visitors to limerick.

I'm not from here, so not great with street names. So maps would be really useful!!

osarusan

Busses into town running today?

whatdoicare

osarusan wrote: »

Busses into town running today?

Yep but dropping off up by browsers/a little outside the centre.

FobleAsNuck

angeldaisy wrote: »

Thanks for that.

But what we do really badly here is just list off a load of road names. Where's the map, where does it give advice on best places to park.
We really don't make it easy for visitors to limerick.

I'm not from here, so not great with street names. So maps would be really useful!!

it's not exactly rocket science to copy&paste the name of the street into google maps. and since they're all in town you'd have the rest of them on a plate

angeldaisy

FobleAsNuck wrote: »

it's not exactly rocket science to copy&paste the name of the street into google maps. and since they're all in town you'd have the rest of them on a plate

No its not rocket science, but what it is is inconvenient, especially when you are using your phone. what I was suggesting was to make things easier for people heading into town.

A map showing the road closures, a list of car parks open etc, would have been handy to have going into town. Instead what I saw were loads of cars dumped anywhere and others driving round in circles trying to find somewhere to park.

I just think we need to understand that these events attract more than people from Limerick. We need to cater for those who have no idea of where they are going. Just make it more tourist friendly.

I've got to admit if I didn't know where I could park, I would have said sod it and headed home.

Parchment

Are the fireworks going ahead tonight....? Weather is not very compatible!

JamesBond2010

looks like they screwed it up again Hearing from different people, very poorly organised, like the Paddys day parade

Un Croissant

I remember the fireworks being delayed big time last year. Very annoying.

fryup

anything happening today monday??

zulutango

It was a poor festival, and seems to be getting worse year on year. Without the Great Limerick Run it would be shockingly and embarrassingly lame.

I guess that crowd from Galway had the cheapest price but their experience at running these things seems to be minimal.

The strategy seems to be to get the various newspapers on board to tell everybody that it's an amazing event. It's 'emperor's new clothes' type marketing crap.

Un Croissant

The events in limerick have been so poor since I've been here that I think I'm done with it. The only one worth going out to is the band parade.

I won't be out for riverfest or patricks day next year, or the Halloween festival that went on last year.

angeldaisy

I have to agree with you, we went in briefly on Sunday for the dog show. It was rained off, but nothing could be done about that.

The children's fun fair that was advertised in Arthur's Quay Park consisted of 2 pools, one with small pedal boats for small kids and one with those plastic balls you climb in. There were trampolines and a spinning 'seat' style experience. Not what I would consider a fun fair!

There was no real sense of cohesion about any of the events, everything was disjointed and messy. There was nothing signposted about where things were or what was on.

I really think that if this event is to continue, it needs to be run professionally. If I was a tourist in Limerick this weekend I would have been very disapointed and quite possibly have taken a negative view of the city. When that's not the case at all. We have a beautiful city here and we really should showcase it more.

Why don't the organisers consult the public and get feedback from what we actually would like to happen?

Un Croissant

The gf had been down for a few weeks and I took her to the milk market on the first Saturday she was here. She enjoyed it, fairly standard I guess but she was happy. Took her to the international market on Friday and we ended up staying out of town most of the weekend. Just felt very flat.

whatdoicare

Just home from the market today - god it was depressing, balloon/crap stall, jewellery stall, burger stall, crepe/sweet stall then, repeat, repeat, repeat.

Only one side of the road this year and I don't know, just felt like a half assed attempt. Like the life was just sucked out of the place.

Very poor attempt - really needs a bit of life injected into it - when your kid gets more excitement from a random dog passing by than by the riverfest market then you know things are bad. Terrible shame.

Limerick500

Cookiemunster wrote: »

It's got a Galway number because the new events company running it this year is based in Galway. Therefore there's already a new PR person. How about waiting to see how the weekend goes before saying it's the same as always.

I'm having trouble finding the name of the PR person for Grooveyard/Riverfest Limerick online. What is their name/contact details? Not a single name on their website.

Un Croissant

I heard a kid say "these are all food".

He clearly didn't see the herbal remedy stall.

whatdoicare

You know, and it kills me to admit this, but the Lidl christmas market behind the hunt museum was what Riverfest market should have been - There really should be stall upon stall of locally produced food, cosmetics, art, craft and garments and something really special laid on to entertain the children. A proper funfair would have been excellent - like the merry go round type thing they had at the spiegletent last year for the culture and chips festival. There was a great energy at the lidl thing and I came away with loads of stuff! They had a few tents laid aside with Santa type things and an area to try the lidl toys - surely there could be some kind of river related type thing at Riverfest, vikings maybe, a parade, music, arts and crafts, some entertainers - something to match that Riverfest photo from the first year.