Ballydehob Summer Festival incorporating "Old Boats" Festival

Here are just a few photos from yesterday at the gathering of the boats. Big thanks go to the organisers, Rubicon for the sounds, and an even bigger thank you to those that attended. Weather wasn’t too bad in the end!

Players gathering for the 🎾 tournament. A highly competitive tournament that has seen some players go onto greater things.

Don’t forget the Fundraising Quiz in Irish Whip at 9.30pm ish tonight! A very important event that helps fund the festival.

You can never guarantee the weather! Latest Update on Today's events:

Rubicon will be playing in Rosies Bar Ballydehob tonight at 9.30pm.

In just 46 minutes the final of the charades will start. After three grueling nights, the final is upon us. Irish Whip are playing The Sandboat. Charades start at 9.00pm "ish" in the Irish Whip.

Irish Whip and The Sandboat Bar have reached tomorrow nights final of the Charades! A fantastic night of “charading” brought the best out of everyone!

Paudy Hourihane strumming his stuff in Rosies Bar Ballydehob! What a festival!

Paudy Hourihane playing at Rosies Bar Ballydehob tonight at 9.30pm.

Charades Semi Final Tonight:

Irish Whip vs Whizzer Scissors,
Levis' Bar vs The Sandboat Bar

Just to point something out, due to two teams who were unable to attend on Monday night due to unforeseen circumstances, it was decided by the "on site" senior adjudicators that the other semi finalist would be the highest scoring losing quarter finalist, which was The Sandboat (15), Rosies Bar Ballydehob (11), Camiers of Ballydehob (9).

Charades kicks off tonight at 9pm in The Sandboat

Bit slow in bookface, apologies.

Last night saw Levis Bar overcome a resilient Camiers Garage to surge into the semi final tomorrow.

Tonight sees a very professional looking Rosies Bar Ballydehob vs Whizzer Scissors, Ballydehob.

The second match tonight will be The Sandboat Bar vs Irish Whip.

The Festival officially opens tomorrow. Don't forget there is a fancy dress competition with prizes of €300 (Adults) and €150 (Kids).

There will also be a parade before the official opening, gathering at the Eastern Car Park) at 7pm. The festival will officially be opened by Caroline Cronin.

This festival relies entirely on donations from our wonderful supporters, one of our fundraisers is the famous Ballydehob Duck Race. With the Ducks returning from their early summer holidays, some of whom have eaten far too much (see photo), why not buy a duck and watch it race in Ballydehob Bay under the one and only 12 Arch Bridge. Each duck costs just €5 and can be bought in one of the many fine establishments Ballydehob has to offer. €150 for the winner and a 2nd and 3rd prize too!

Here are the full details of the week's activities. Six more sleeps till kick off!

It's here!

Put the dates in your diary!

More info to follow in the next day or so.

Although not festival related, it’s very important. Ballydehob is fundraising for the Irish Community Air Ambulance by way of a vintage car and tractor run this coming Sunday 4th September.

Vintage Cars, Motorbikes and Tractors need to be registered at 11.00am at the Irish Whip. Tractors are going to Lisheen, Cars and Motorbikes are going to Glandore via Leap and back through Union Hall. Barbecue and music to follow.

This is a very worthy cause and it would be great if you could support. Please share and get the word out there to help raise funds for our vital air ambulance service.

What a Festival! Thank you to everyone who attended the festival events, a thank you to those that participated, big thank you to our sponsors and an even bigger thank you to all those that helped create such a special festival right here in Ballydehob! Here’s a few photos from the Grand Finale.

CHARADES FINAL REPORT:

The final of charades occurred on Friday in The Sandboat. The two teams vying for the coveted Charades Trophy, plus bragging rights, were between Budds and Whizzer Scissors, Ballydehob. The match started off pretty much equal but Budds started pulling into a slow lead. One of the many highlights of the evening was when Whizzer Sisters managed to get a clue with just .000001 seconds to go, Ed Bruce would have been proud to see Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys charade! Anyway, Budds pulled further and further away with a final score of 30 points to 18. To explain further Budds never dropped a point in the entire tournament! Great night, great atmosphere, great laughs! Thank you to all the teams, the hosts and most importantly those of you who attended and enjoyed the four nights of mayhem!

TENNIS TOURNAMENT:
Thank you to all who turned up at the Tennis Tournament on Friday and Saturday. There was some great action down on the courts.. The winners of the Adults double competition were Ger & Shane with Jennifer and Gerdi runners up.

The final day of our eight day festival extravaganza is upon us.
Down at the Community Field, next to the Ballydehob Community Hall , we have:
Fun Soccer tournament kicks off at 12pm with the Final being played at 2pm.
Dog Show is followed at 2.30pm with the Duck Race at 3.30pm (please buy a duck as this goes to the festival funds).
At 4.30pm we have the Pony Show.
At 5pm we have the races ranging from Toddlers to Adults,
Also at 5pm we have music being played by Rubicon outside Bally Bia.
7.30pm sees Small Town politics at Levis' Bar
9.30pm Dr.Feelgood & the Electric Mayhem playing in Rosies Bar Ballydehob
9.50pm Grand Finale with the Fireworks display from the 12 Arch Bridge

CHARADES FINAL:

If you were there….I’ll just leave this here:

Report to follow….

Mama's Don't Let Your Babies Grow up to Be Cowboys Provided to YouTube by The Orchard EnterprisesMama's Don't Let Your Babies Grow up to Be Cowboys · Ed BruceCountry Hits℗ 2013 Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC d...

So the semi-final of the charades took place on Wednesday with some fine charading from all four teams.

The Whizzer Scissors, Ballydehob overcame a valiant effort from The Irish Whip A Team, the score of something to something (lost the scores).

In the second semi-final, Budds beat a sterling performance from Catriona's Beauty Salon with a magnificent score of 19 points to 12 points (I think).

Well done to all!

Thanks to the adjudicators, Levis' Bar for being hosts and see you there in the Final tonight at 9pm in The Sandboat.

Today's events:

2pm: Kids/Teens U10 to U16 Tennis Tournament. Note, some programmes say 10am, it is 2pm.
5pm-7pm: Kiddies Disco in the Hall.
7.30pm: Street Sports
9pm: Charades Final in The Sandboat
10pm: Music in the bars

More info later

Today's events:

6PM: Knotiverse competition for adults and children in Rosies Bar Ballydehob

9PM: Fundraising Table Quiz in Irish Whip €5 per player, teams of four. This is a very important fundraiser for the festival, please support if you can.

9.30PM: Paudy & Stephen session in Rosies Bar Ballydehob

More info about tomorrow's events will be announced later.

Music with Ger Deasy in the Irish Whip

Last night's charades saw some excellent "charading" in the midst of "charades mayhem". The victors last night were Budds who overcame their fiercest rivals Levis' Bar, an example of how professional they are, both teams wore their own specially made team tops! The final score being 17-12.

The second match saw Whizzer Scissors, Ballydehob vying for a spot in the semis against Irish Whip B Team. After some epic "charading", some of which I wont repeat, Whizzer Scissors, Ballydehob came out on top 12-8.

Semi-Final draw will be made later today under strict scrutiny of the Ballydehob Summer Festival Committee. Should be completed by around 4ish. Sem-Finals will he held tonight in Levis' Bar at 9pm.

After last nights “charades mayhem”, we saw Catriona's Beauty Salon defeat Camiers of Ballydehob 16-10 whilst the Irish Whip A Team overcame a spirited performance by The Sandboat 17-16. Well done to all those who took part.

Today's events:

Official opening of the festival at 8pm by the The Mayor of the County of Cork, Danny Collins.

Don't forget the Fancy Dress competitions and the big prizes up for grabs.

What an absolutely fantastic afternoon down at the pier. Big thanks to everyone who attended, including the magnificent boats, Rubicon and especially to the organisers and those that helped out. You smashed it!

What a fantastic evening we are having down at Ballydehob Pier for the arrival of the Old Boats.
The sun is shining and Rubicon are keeping everyone happy with some lovely songs and tunes.
Make sure to get down and take it all in!

Live music tonight in both Rosies Bar Ballydehob and The Irish Whip

MAJOR REQUEST: Does anyone in the local area have a gazebo we could borrow for the day? Primarily for the puppet show at 4pm to keep the sun off the kids. Ideally we would like to borrow two. Please DM this page if you can help.

The Ballydehob Summer Festival relies entirely on sponsors and donations as well as through funding by way of the Great Duck Race and Raffles. To show our appreciation to our sponsors we have in our programme a summary of those that sponsored our last event in 2019 as well as our Main Sponsors for this year, Kabana Lifestyle , CH Marine and Thomas Drewes. The Committee wish to thank all our sponsors who help to ensure we have a continued success of our Summer Festival down here in West Cork. Thank You!

With the kick off to festival just four days away, we're going to start showing you some of the fantastic events which will be taking place. "Doctor Dink's AMAZING Two Potato Circus featuring The Punk n Suzy show" which will keep the kids of all ages entertained, and, no doubt, their parents/guardians. Kick off is at 4pm on the pier. Unfortunately, this event is not in the programme, so please do share to get as many people aware of this fantastic show. More highlights of the events to follow over the next few days.

HOT OFF THE PRESS!
Here is the definitive list of all the events occurring during the eight days of festivities.
More updates to follow.
I'm off to feed the ducks who will be competing in the Duck Race on Sunday 21st August (they're a bit hungry as they haven't been out since August 2019). Duck Tickets are on sale in the shops in Ballydehob including the pubs, Garage, Post Office and Bank House (€5 per duck)