Building up a head of steam at Moynalty Threshing festival

Up to 20,000 people made their way to Moynalty on Sunday for the village's annual Steam Threshing Festival, which saw seven threshing mills and steam engines working throughout the day. The rain held off on Sunday afternoon, as the colourful festival in the country's tidiest village saw country living of bygone years re-enacted in a series of demonstrations and display. The steam engines billowing smoke and steam high into the air attracted significant attention and there was an extraordinary exhibition of vintage tractors and farm machinery, horses, steam engines and horse-drawn machinery from all over the country. There was a display of Ford Cortina cars as the festival celebrated 50 years of that iconic model and this exhibition, in particular, attracted a lot of attention. Among the many other attractions on view were crafts, music and dance, trading stalls, side shows, face-painting and a funfair, while the dog show attracted phenomenal interest. The cornfield was thronged as people watched six acres of oats being cut and the threshing by steam, horse, flail and tractor. The buttermilk, boxty and roast pig sold out very quickly and the ladies in the tearoom were kept very busy all day. The dancing deck and traditional music proved very popular the farm museum was packed all day. There was a good deal of interest in the displays by the farrier, John McAteer, as well as in the wool-spinning demonstration. Animals of all shapes, breeds and sizes were on display and there was a water-wheel and mud turf-making on the bank of the river and all sorts of fairground attractions for children. All proceeds from the festival go towards worthy causes. The entire event is run by voluntary community effort and 200 local volunteers helped to keep the entire day's proceedings running smoothly. Members of the local community were out in force again on Monday morning as a major clean-up began. Local children were among those out picking litter to ensure the village was back in its usual pristine condition by Monday evening. Some of those children turned out while there was heavy rain on Monday morning. Sean Sheridan of the festival committee thanked everyone who helped out in any way by working at the event or giving sponsorship, particularly the gardai, stewards and the ladies who operated the tearooms. He said the committee would shortly be turning its attention to plans for next year's festival.