Preparations are well underway to deliver another unique Tipperary festival
Clonmel Applefest
Clonmel Applefest returns to Clonmel in September and two projects which will feature during the festival are already well under way.
They are the annual book project which involves 10 community writers interviewing 10 local families to represent a sample of Clonmel society in 2025. Participating families include some well-known faces in town as well as some more recent arrivals. The stories will be compiled into a book with photographs by John D. Kelly in a similar vein to the Elders of Clonmel books published in the past two years.
Meanwhile a number of art workshops were held at which family members were invited to draw their own version of a family portrait under the guidance of expert arts facilitator Paul Bokslag, whose papercut technique he adapted for the purpose of this project. Eleven family groups took part in making a portrait which will be seen around town and in the festival’s graphics in the months to come.
In keeping with this year’s ‘the ties that bind’ theme, the festival is looking for storytellers who want to tell a real story about themselves on this theme as part of the very popular Clonmel Storyslam, hosted by local sheepfarmer Joe Whelan. The event always draws an enthusiastic crowd and the stories are as varied as there are people in the room.
A new addition to the programme this year, the Pecha Kucha – ‘chit-chat’ in Japanese- is a way of presenting designer’s and artist’s works in a quickfire and dynamic way, whereby 20 slides are shown in 20 seconds each, making for a quick 6 minutes and 40 seconds format.
Artists interested in this and/or storytellers interested in the Storyslam can send an expression of interest to [email protected]
And of course the hugely popular Harvest Fair will be back on Kickham Plaza, with more fun and interesting craft activity stands, apple pressing, street performers, live music and lots of picnic tables to gather and chat. An ideal way to finish to bid farewell to the summer after what has already been an action packed season.