Applefest draws to a close

Clonmel Applefest celebrated its Community Day in the grounds of Old St Mary’s on Sunday, marking the final day of festivities for Applefest 2021.
Despite the occasional rain shower, people came along to join in and enjoy the workshops and activities that were taking place throughout the day.
Jayne and Suzanne of Rockwell Music Academy welcomed participants to their Music and Movement workshop with a colourful array of scarves, ribbons and percussion instruments giving a fun and energetic start to the day, while in a quieter part of the church grounds Josephine Quinlan hosted a relaxing morning meditation. Entomologist Louise Garcia took a group of young explorers on a Biodiversity Tour of Old St Mary’s to discover the hidden nooks and flowering alcoves, identifying a range of plants, insects and lichens.
At midday, a lovely crowd gathered for the Community Picnic Feast under the magnificent yew trees to eat, mingle and relax while listening to live music from Brian and Camilla. There were dishes from all over the world being shared, from apple pie and vegetarian moussaka to delicious meat-filled dumplings. The Community Feast Food Challenge judges, Kay McGonigle of Mai’s Café and Shannon Forrest of Rivesci, had the tasty task of sampling all the dishes entered for the challenge and the unenviable task of picking the winners!
Nabbing the prizes were Dzintra Abolina who won a voucher for Allens for her Best Finger Food Dish; Tara Power whose delicious courgette muffins won Best Vegetarian Dish and a voucher for Mani Restaurant; Best International Dish was won by Aleksandra Stodulska bagging her a voucher for the Tannery in Dungarvan and Geraldine O’Sullivan took home a Tipperary Food Producers hamper when her apple pie won Best Dessert. The prizes were kindly presented by Mayor Cllr Michael Murphy.
The day’s festivities drew to a close with the Spoken Word event, curated by Eileen Acheson. An attentive audience gathered in the evening sun to listen to a group of the Poetry Trail poets reading their pieces guided by the theme Rituals of Joy and Sorrow. The poetry resonated in the beautiful setting of Old St Mary’s grounds and offered a heartfelt conclusion to Clonmel Applefest 2021.
Clonmel Applefest would like to thank festival funders the Arts Council of Ireland, Tipperary County Council, Creative Ireland, the HSE and National Lottery Fund, as well as Old St Mary’s for the use of their beautiful church grounds.