Colourful parade a success Paul Healy Sunday’s Summer Parade in Ballaghaderreen – hosted by Ballaghaderreen & Districts Development Ltd. – was a successful event which showcased in an often novel way the diversity and sense of community prevailing in the town. About 20 floats were entered into this first Summer Parade in the town (it replaced the 2008 St. Patrick’s Day Parade which had been cancelled). While that may be a relatively small entry, it was a commendable response given that the parade was organised at short notice. In any event, the originality of many of the entries and the diverse aspects of Ballaghaderreen life they reflected meant that the large crowd of spectators were entertained and informed in equal measure. The parade was reviewed by a number of invited guests including Bishop Thomas Flynn, TDs Michael Finneran, Frank Feighan and John O’Mahoney and Senator Terry Leyden. Master of Ceremonies was Mary Devine O’Callaghan, Secretary of Ballaghaderreen & Districts Development Ltd. and judges were Irish Times journalist Patsy McGarry (a native of Ballaghaderreen) and Ann O’Grady of Ballaghaderreen & Districts Development Ltd. After the parade had ended Mr. McGarry revealed who the winners were and the various prizes were presented. Ms. Devine O’Callaghan had earlier thanked the huge number of local sponsors who had made the event a financially viable undertaking. The results were as follows: Joint first: Ballaghaderreen & Districts Angling Club and Frenchpark Vintage Club; Joint 2nd: Towey’s of Main Street with ‘Here Comes Summer’ and Ballaghaderreen Cricket Club; Joint 3rd: St. Attractas N.S. and John Gaffney’s School of Handball. Novelty category winner: Mary Gallagher and Margaret and Brendan Garvey with ‘Midsummer’s Night Dream’; Best Window Display: Ballaghaderreen Childcare Pre-School.
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