New initiatives ensure success of Oyster festival

Date Published: 13-Sep-2007

A whole new series of initiatives – including doubling the duration of the Gala Celebration itself – helped contribute handsomely to the new atmosphere of the Clarenbridge Oyster Festival.
And a massive 5,500 people – 2,000 each on Friday and Sunday and 1,500 on Saturday – ensured this was a festival to remember for so many reasons.
Local shell fish supplier Michael Kelly estimated that 30,000 Galway oysters were consumed locally during the Festival.
Festival chairman Brian Costigan told the guests that the festival has an unrivalled history.
“Since 1954, Clarenbridge has been the focus every September. It continues each year a little bigger, this year a little bigger, a little better, but essentially the same. It’s local, it’s national and it’s international,” he said.