Puck Fair
Day One
Kilorglin is a tiny town in the Kingdom of Kerry renowned for not much else than this once a year spectacle. The Puck Fair is the oldest festival in Ireland and one of the oldest non religious festivals in the world. What happens at the Puck Fair? Well. A goat is hoisted by a winch above the town in a metal cage and held there for three days while the town celebrate beneath it. Fill up the petrol tank, we're going!
5 hours later we arrive in Kilorglin and the town is manic. We park as directed by event staff in a nearby field and we're told the main area is 'only a short stagger away'. We crossed the bridge into the town, which is decorated with lights in the shape of a goats head. On up into the town and it's a giant market/fair/impromptu party at every turn. You could literally buy everything there, from clothes to industrial strength glue (with live demo), to the kitchen sink. The first couple of hours were entirely surreal until the goat arrived down to what was soon to be his home for the next few days. There he was crowned King by the reigning Queen of Puck, who is chosen every year from the 6th class of a local school. She places a crown on his head and he's hoisted towards the clouds.
The whole spectacle is completely gas, and the people of the town have no problem in admitting it is a little odd, celebrating the King Puck for 3 days and nights - but it's tradition. And don't mess with tradition.
Day Two
Day Two saw us waking up in a field and in the middle of the Puck Fair Cattle Show, where people came from far and wide around Ireland to show case their livestock. After a hearty bowl of stew, we decided the best way to help our food go down would be to get on a giant bungee ball, which essentially is a giant steel ball frame that you sit in and get flung into the air at insane speeds (check out our video for our reactions!).
Once we had recovered from that big mistake, there was magic shows and impromptu Céilí's to join in, all leading towards the evening, when The Walls played in the main town square beneath King Puck. Not one of our favourite bands or anything, but good craic none the less. We headed on to get our music fill and found it in Hot Tramp, a band from Kerry who predominantly do covers of 90's dance and R&B tracks, all in a funky rock setup. They even had a man storm the stage and rap with them for a good 15 minutes who looked remarkably like Adam Rickitt. Hmmm...dodgy....
Day Three
Once again we woke in trusty old Ruby the Rashermobile and after a feed of rashers over the waning gas stove, we hit Kilorglin for the last of the festival. For the final day, more stalls were set up than ever before during the three days and the place was buzzing. The Queen of Puck and her Lady in Waiting were interviewed on stage and we managed to grab the pair for a quick chat and a photo just in time before the King Puck himself was winched down from his height of glory and set free back up the mountain.
The festival was over and everything was packing up so we hit the road in Ruby for our 5 hour drive home. We were satisfied by the most random 3 days of our lives. Now, where to next...?
Posted: 20/08/2010 11:39:37 by
Colm & Martin
Filed under: Festivals, HotTramp, Kerry, Killorgin, KingPuck, PuckFair, Rasherfest, Colm+Martin