Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Lammas Fair, Ballycastle

.
Carnival Ride, Lammas Fair, Ballycastle 3

When we were planning this trip, Carolyn told me that we would be in the neighborhood of the Lammas Fair, the oldest in Ireland. I boggled. A Tibetan Buddhist festival on the Emerald Isle? No, I was very wrong.

This may be indeed the oldest such event but you wouldn't know it. The venue is Ballycastle, a town on the north coast of County Antrim. Today, it is an enormous tacky flea market, with uncountable vendors selling similar junk. The visitors had a great time, though, and we were pleased that we didn't hear a bit of American English in the throngs. Another striking thing was the large number of musicians playing and singing American country music, which seems to be very popular here. One is pictured below. Cowboy hats in Ireland? They do have a lot of cows.


Carnival Ride, Lammas Fair, Ballycastle

Carnival Ride, Lammas Fair, Ballycastle 4

Country Singer, Lammas Fair, Ballycastle 1

Vendor at Lammas Fair, Ballycastle 2

Vendor at Lammas Fair, Ballycastle 1

9 comments:

lewi14@gmail.com said...

Great shots, Rob! My favourite: the last one. I like such guys!

cieldequimper said...

The things you do in Ireland.

Stefan Jansson said...

Ha ha some good advice on that sign. And it's never fun to buy junk!

brattcat said...

You two found a real treasure here. Thanks for dropping by while you're on the road. That means a lot to me.

Rob said...

You weren't kidding about our fair photo coincidence. I know I took a couple dozen pics to get the timing just right. Though the fairs we experienced were so far apart, they somehow appear quite similar.

Virginia said...

That's sign is hilarious. I would have been disqualified for at least one or more of the reasons! :)

Great portraits. Reminds me that Mary hauled me all the way to the 20eme for a grand brocante in Paris and all it was was JUNK!
V

Birdman said...

This reminds us all that it takes a LOT to make up the intricacies of a country theirs or ours. It takes ALL!

patty said...

love the sign on the ride!

Jilly said...

Just looked back over all your posts from Ireland and what a wonderful time you've given us, showing so much detail and snippets of life. Really great, Bob and as always fabulous photographs.