Our Beginnings…

Sitting and relaxing over a cup of tea at my kitchen table one night back in early January 2005, Danny, my brother just mentioned ‘Why not organise a Parade in Clane this year’. That’s when it all started. Two days later I approached a few people i.e. Tony McKenna, Kate Horrigan, J. P. Holligan, Tony McEvoy, John Nolan and asked them if they would be interested in coming on board. I think they thought I was mad but they said Yes, we’ll give it a try. A week later we had our 1st meeting. We had about six weeks to organise the event. We knew very little about what it all entailed but we got stuck in regardless and did what had to be done. I don’t think I could have picked a better committee to work with. Gary and Trish McNeela from the Civil Defence came on board and helped out also.

What a day it was!!     Thousands of people came along to see the lst ever St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Clane. The sun shone down on Clane and it was a huge success and because of this, it has now become an annual event and a whole Weekend Festival and not just a Parade. It is a Community Festival. So much so that our theme for the 2008 Festival was “Clane -  Working Together”.
Mary Dunne