Flavours of Fingal

Arthur Daley

So a good day out, weather was perfect. Traffic a bit nuts heading towards Donabate, and queing for a number of the food stalls. I wonder if they pulled more of a crowd than they expected. Which is always going to be weather dependent to some degree.

A doddle to get out after 6 anyway. Properly organised. Well done Fingal CC

LirW

I was amazed of how spotless the place was, also the toilets in really good nic and sinks for washing the hands everywhere. It was huuuuge and so much to do.

Cloudio9

yeah great free family event, really well organised. It's so big now you'd nearly need two days to take it all in. Crowds well up on last year but their traffic management system worked well.

Inquitus

Cloudio9 wrote: »

yeah great free family event, really well organised. It's so big now you'd nearly need two days to take it all in. Crowds well up on last year but their traffic management system worked well.

Took the family along today, well run, great event, nice weather for it, can't complain. Took about 30 mins to get into it from hitting Traffic on the old N1 heading up to the M1 roundabout, but thats pretty good going considering the volumes of people attending. As said above, well done Fingal!

Sleepy

We opted to cycle in the Newbridge Avenue entrence rather than brave the traffic on the Hearse Road.

Really good day out. Well done Fingal Co Co!

ILikeBoats

Was very well organised. Parking, toilets, food...all really good. Our daughter loved all the animals. The sheep racing was hilarious. A crowd at the stage looked like they were having a great time! Very impressed.

Paulw

From working there, and getting some info, it's estimated that 35,000 were through the gates on Saturday and almost 50,000 on Sunday. Massive crowds, and yet it didn't feel crammed.

The sheep racing was mad. A great laugh. There was so much going on - jousting, battle re-enactments, falconry, music, food, bouncy castles, cattle/sheep, equestrian, classic vehicles, etc ... and that's just what I can remember.

The bands in the walled garden were great. Kept everyone entertained. Great to see the kids up dancing and having fun.

Roll on next year. I'm sure it'll be bigger again. :eek:

joey100

Late getting to this post but I really enjoyed it, great that dogs were allowed too, nice to be able to bring them along to stuff going on. Plenty to do and look at and like others said it never felt packed.

talkinggal

i also enjoyed it immensely. traffic was a total nightmare but the event itself was so good we went both days. Lots for kids to do. plenty of food options, giid entertainment and then just the general park to kickc a ball around in if nothing took your fancy.

roll on next year but please sort out the traffic

Lorelli!

Don't see a current thread up for this. Couldnt stay for too long but went for a couple of hours today and it echoes what posters above said about last year. Really well organized, good entertainment and food. It was nice to be able to take the dog too!

ThunbergsAreGo

Brilliant event again, and a well done to the CC

ILikeBoats

Got the train this year, very handy. Serious weather for it. Am I wrong in saying It is more of an agricultural show than food event?

Inquitus

Aye it was an excellent day out again this year, blessed with good weather 2 years on the trot! The new traffic scheme they had in place worked well, we got in from Swords by car in 20 mins and only took 15 to get home, well done Fingal!

LeoB

Didnt get there this year but great reports from people I spoke to.

The traffic is a problem and I wonder if they could not open a second temporary entry off Turvey?

Well done Fingal C.C

Beasty

Didn't go but encountered the traffic. There were what I considered crazy ways they were diverting the traffic off the motorway and causing unnecessary hold ups for anyone heading along the old N1

They were also prioritising show traffic at the Lissenhall roundabout southbound when people were leaving. When I finally got to the junction it was clear they were letting everyone off the Donabate road leaving people not attending waiting for ages

And just to add one further gripe that will ring a bell with cyclists. They had people in hI viz with stop signs holding up the traffic. I appreciate it was almost certainly with the approval of the Guards. However Fingal Gardai have made it perfectly clear that it is illegal for anyone but Gardai and school crossing "lollipop" persons to manually control any traffic

Whinge over! - I am pleased that attendees enjoyed it

Collibosher

LeoB wrote: »

The traffic is a problem and I wonder if they could not open a second temporary entry off Turvey?

The main entry was off Turvey, all event traffic was diverted that way.

Horrendous queues from Donabate and the beaches as event traffic was given priority on exit.

seagull

Traffic was a huge improvement on previous years, in that Turvey avenue was used as the entrance road, so Hearse road didn't get as clogged as before. The free bus was also handy. We used that on Saturday. Waited 30 minutes for the bus in, and about 15 minutes heading home, which isn't too bad. We had to be in Donabate on Sunday morning, so drove through, and then decided to attend again for a few hours. It was a bit of a detour driving home, but not too bad.
The event itself was bigger and better this year. Which is why we were there again on Sunday. We didn't get round everything on Saturday. We spent too long watching the equestrian events to get round the rest.

Wishbone Ash

Beasty wrote: »

..Gardai have made it perfectly clear that it is illegal for anyone but Gardai and school crossing "lollipop" persons to manually control any traffic.....

Roadworks flagmen and persons in charge of animals may also control traffic.

(Animals as in herding animals - not persons taking their dog for a walk!)