Limerick’s Riverfeast BBQ Competition Cancelled?
Apr 16th, 2009 | By Bock | Category: Food & DrinkDo you remember the Limerick Riverfeast BBQ competition?
It takes place every year during the Riverfest events and it lifts the entire town. People travel from all over the world to take part. There are bands, and traditional musicians and dancing and happiness.
It beats the hell out of all the other events that happen over the weekend and it brings colour and joy to our town.
It also brings in a lot of money, filling the hotels, restaurants and pubs, but this year it probably won’t be happening.
Why?
Because some official has decided not to contribute the meagre sponsorship necessary to keep it alive, in spite of the huge boost it provides for the town.
Now there’s joined-up thinking for you. Forget about the huge money the event brings in. Forget about the positive message it sends out about our town.
Instead we’ll save the grubby few pennies we used to give.
Wonderful.
If you’re annoyed about this, complain, why don’t you. Complain long and loud.
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UPDATE
The Riverfeast website doesn’t sound too optimistic.
This Facebook statement has been sent out by the organisers:
Hi all,
Well, the news is not good. Unfortunately we are not in a position to run this International BBQ Cook-Off this year.
First of all we were told by the Limerick Co-Ordination Office that they would not be able to fund the upcoming BBQ Cook-Off as part of River Fest.
After much work and persuasion only a week ago we were allocated a mere ‚¬10,000 gesture from them to run an event that costs over ‚¬50,000 cash. This event generates a massive amount of tourism for the city, with over 40,000 people flocking onto the streets to witness this spectacular event. We later learned that money has been allocated to pointless things that generate no business. We requested that they provide us with just ‚¬20,000 towards the city to make this FREE EVENT happen.
Yes this event is completely free to the contestants and to the general public!!
The Limerick Co-Ordination Office was set up to manage the City and its festivals including the PR and Public Image of the City. This event has been Limerick’s most successful festival and it beggars belief what do the Co-Ordination Office actually do? This event has brought massive pride and great PR to a city that needs it more than ever! We always managed to get TV coverage with Ireland AM, RTE News, Nationwide features not to mention national and international media coverage.
We are a voluntary organisation who take pride in bringing such an event to the city. This event has made its mark in Limerick, and it is with much disappointment and sadness that we have to make this announcement.
May we request that you do whatever you can to show your disappointment that the city is leaving us in no position to run this event.
We are not giving up on this, but have to come to terms with the fact that it will not happen on the May Bank Holiday Weekend. It might not even happen in the city unless we get the necessary funding!
Watch this space! We will not go down without a fight!
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UPDATE
Here’s an interesting and pertinent comment from Billy Kelly:
I am a Limerickman now living in Gillingham in Dorset. I spent many years working with the Limerick Leader. I have attended the Riverfeast BBQ for the past two years and I have brought a couple of teams from over here with me as well as a bunch of supporters. Each year we had about 20 people in town, who would not otherwise have visited the city, spending money in shops, pubs, hotels and taxis. As a consequence a number of other Gillingham people, on hearing what a great place Limerick is, have arranged their own visits €“ one of the groups being a touring underage rugby team from the local club, North Dorset RFC. (They played at Old Crescent, I understand.)
Limerick has a dreadful name throughout the world, as far as I can see, but the evidence of the BBQ on the quay left dozens of English visitors enthusiastic about the place. How good is that? And, what price can you put on that?
For the record, the English women who came along were overwhelmed by the shopping that was available in Limerick. Brown Thomas, Leavy’s, Whacky Shoes, Nevil’s Shoes, were some of the shops that these women ranked as among the best they had ever visited.
This year, we had three teams ready to visit Limerick, two from around Gillingham and one from the Midlands of England, that had won a BBQ competition I attended last year. I have had to cancel all of the visits. What does that do to the image of the city that I have worked so hard to promote?
The visiting teams over the past two years rated the visit to Limerick’s BBQ as one of the best holidays they ever had. The loved the people, the atmosphere, the entertainment, the lot!
It is a tragedy that the city has let itself down in this regard. And, I wonder what am I doing trying to promote my native city here in Dorset if the city can’t support one of the greatest fun events that has been created in my lifetime.
As my grandmother would have said: €œDoll diedy!€
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Penny pinching bastards..the best weekend of the year. I wonder if sorry when Munster qualify for the Heineken Cup final will we have our big screen coverage.
Who do we object to?
Can we organise a mass e-mail objection?
We’re looking to you Bock to organise us…..
This is really bad news for Limerick. I’m not always around Limerick that weekend but the little I’ve seen of the BBQ was great – very positive for the city, multi-cultural, musical, great fun.
What really interests me here is that the French Market gets a subsidy. WTF? Not only is it a rip off, it is patently not a genuine market. (Well, maybe you could say it’s a “market” in the same way that MacDonalds is a “restaurant”…).
This sounds very suspicious to me… vested interests… even downright corruption? I’d like if anyone who knows a bit more about this could fill us in? Do you know any more, Bock?
At any rate, I hope that the BBQ happens at some stage during the summer, regardless of this messing.
Apropos of nothing, I saw a picture of you in the Guardian today!
Well some hand is holding the festival money, question is who and to what intent? And Co-Ordinating what exactly?
Is it possible the shit Willy O’Dea may be involved in this scuppering maneuver? He is a sneaky fuck after all.
Could he be about to declare that in his role as Minister he has saved the day and had the held-back funding restored? Or am I being a total cynic again perhaps?
Would love to know just what kind of budget this “co-ordination office” works off annually.
Something tells me fat cat salaries and expenses would not be out of place. Just like “Regeneration” whose first task this year was to rush out and buy a new fleet of 09 Reg. Humvees.
In the mean-time a central part of what should be a growing summer festival in a city that needs to project itself in an ever more popular light thanks to the activities of louts and knackers, gets the proverbial kick in the bollix.
* If I win the foolstax draw this w/e I’ll cover it!
To be fair it was shit last year and the year before wasn’t much better either.
To be fair, you’re talking shit. It was great last year.
And the year before
It might be a good start for them to be clear on exactly what they need.
Question
How much did it cost last year?
According to the paper they got 25k from the Limerick co-ordination Office last year. Where else did they source funding? or did it just cost 25 last year and is it now 56k? If it cost the same last year it means that another 31,000 has dried up. Who is not paying there?
The same paper says they were advised to apply to Failte Ireland which most small festivals are doing but it seems they didn’t. Why not?
And sorry if this appears thick, but I also have been around on May bank holidays for the last number of years. Can someone broadly explain to me how the bbq event eats up 56000 euro?
King’s Bard — You’re right. The year before was good too. What is it with these negative attitudes? Some people can’t see the good things going on right in front of their eyes.
Fox — Could you provide some indication of the events you’ve personally organised voluntarily?
Shane — No idea about the money. I have no involvement in organising the thing. Maybe somebody from the BBQ competition might come in and shed some light on that.
I’m not down on them. I’m just surprised, about how this is been put out there. Over on the Limerick Leader, Mr O Sullivan is quoted as saying that it could be run for 20000!
Which is it?
I think your photos promote it in a positive light and I have no doubt that a lot of people enjoyed it.
I don’t know either. It just seems to me that there’s a bit of short-sightedness involved.
I fail to see how my comment has anything to do with events I have personally organised voluntarily but seeing as you asked: none, (unless three years as a Cub Scout leader counts).
You know what? It so does fucking count. Take that!
Seriously though, I just gave my opinion that I thought it was shit. You and Bard disagree. I won’t be wasting my time there but lots of people will have a great time.
It’s very easy to say something is shit but that’s a meaningless description. Now, if there were certain aspects of it you were unhappy with, that would be a different matter, but simply saying it was shit writes off all the bands, all the musicians, all the dancers and acrobats, all the chefs, all the contestants and all the people who attended and enjoyed it.
Or perhaps you just meant you personally didn’t enjoy it? That, of course, would not be the same thing as the event being shit.
I see your point.
I apologise. I was too rash with that comment.
I personally didn’t like it last year but it wasn’t a great year all round for me anyway so maybe that clouded it a little for me.
Well why not go along this year, and enjoy it, if it happens?
I would but I have to work.
Bock, thanks for giving the people of Limerick a platform to express their opinion about the cancellation of the BBQ competition.
Shane, to answer some of your questions:
Last year we ran a Two Day FREE Festival for the people of Limerick, after much the same drama, we received 25k from Shannon Development & the Limerick Co-Ordination Office, on top of that we also received sponsorship funding from Fruice (Coca Cola Bottlers Company), Complete Cuisine and a donation from Paul Partnership.
To run such a contest to the scale and standard we do, you would be amazed at how quickly such funds dry up – for example we have to pay for such things as Marquee Hire, BBQ’s – assembly, cleaning and transport, Charcoal for 130 teams over the two days, staging, printing, signage, PA, MC, Bands, Security, including overnight security, plumbing, electricity, food for 100 teams and food for the public (some of which gets sponsored, some of which we have to buy) street decoration, street cleaning, hotels, food for workers, workers both before, during and after the event, the list goes on! Not to mention prizes.
There are many aspects to such a festival that cost money but that get overlooked. We always need to ensure an event like this is kept to a high standard, we are not going to do a Mickey Mouse job on it.
We stated this year that we could run a One Day event this year if we received the funding of 20K from LCO & Shannon Development – we would then also have to source other funding and sponsorship, both in money and benefit in kind from local businesses. We would have cut down areas that could be cut down, we would have downsized the BBQ – from the Saturdays usual 100 teams back down to 50-60 teams, therefore we would need less workers, less food, less equipment and less prizes etc…
This is the direction we would have taken to ensure this event went ahead and was still free to the public & to the participants.
We are releasing a statement to the papers that explains all of the above.
I hope I have answered your questions.
Oh, and I forgot to mention, we did apply for Failte Ireland funding, but we alone were too small to receive anything.
You need cash receipts of €100,000 before you would qualify. We filled out a massive funding application form, that took much time, only to be told that we did not qualify – so I ask you this question, should it not be the Limerick Co-Ordination Office applying for all these grants and then allocating received funds to organisations like the BBQ Association to run highly successful festivals? I don’t see what other purpose the LCO actually have.
They say they are here to maintain the PR of the city, then why do they have a full committee board? (who haven’t sat a board meeting in many months) Why do they have such a prime city center office with massive administration costs? Surely there is enough room in city hall for them??
According to the papers organisers didn’t apply for the right failte ireland grant…they applied for the national one instead of the regional one..ooops.
They should have applied anyway, in fairness how can the local authorities fund a bbq worth €100,000 in the middle of a recession in limk?
Gone to the game. Where did the €100,000 come from? The organisers said that to run the full 2day event would cost in excess of €50,000 but a cut-down 1 day event could be organised for €20,000.
The fact of the matter is that the Limerick Co-ordination Office should be the ones applying for any grants and then distribute the funds to the event organisers for all events in the city.
God knows that the city needs to project a positive image more now than ever. Any event that attracts people into the city centre should be welcomed and supported before Limerick dies gradually out from the centre.
Gone to the game — It isn’t a barbecue. It’s a barbecue competition with associated public entertainment. It’s a tourist attraction.
I always thought the BBQ was a separate competition so they should apply for the grant right? From what I remember, most of the entrants were local.Everyone will be at the match or watching it anyway not eating a few burgers. And i think there’s fireworks this year, yippee!
I bet you someone was making cash out of the bbq and that’s why they’re so pissed off. you mean to tell me that no one got a penny out of this? yeah right
From what I hear the running costs aren’t the issue, the issue is lack of transparancy in where the monies are actually spent. No detailed breakdown of expenditure. Also the 100-130 teams that compete are largely local residents. I took part one year (great fun) and was asked what country I would like to represent. It is very hard to measure its actual financial contribution to the festival in terms of hotel bookings etc. And I reckon in this current climate if you can’t justify you existence then adios. Pity because it is/was a great day out.
Hi Bock,
I am a Limerickman now living in Gillingham in Dorset. I spent many years working with the Limerick Leader. I have attended the Riverfeast BBQ for the past two years and I have brought a couple of teams from over here with me as well as a bunch of supporters. Each year we had about 20 people in town, who would not otherwise have visited the city, spending money in shops, pubs, hotels and taxis. As a consequence a number of other Gillingham people, on hearing what a great place Limerick is, have arranged their own visits – one of the groups being a touring underage rugby team from the local club, North Dorset RFC. (They played at Old Cresent, I understand.)
Limerick has a dreadful name throughout the world, as far as I can see, but the evidence of the BBQ on the quay left dozens of English visitors enthusiastic about the place. How good is that? And, what price can you put on that?
For the record, the English women who came along were overwhelmed by the shopping that was available in Limerick. Brown Thomas, Leavy’s, Whacky Shoes, Nevil’s Shoes, were some of the shops that these women ranked as among the best they had ever visited.
This year, we had three teams ready to visit Limerick, two from around Gillingham and one from the Midlands of England, that had won a BBQ competition I attended last year. I have had to cancel all of the visits. What does that do to the image of the city that I have worked so hard to promote?
The visiting teams over the past two years rated the visit to Limerick’s BBQ as one of the best holidays they ever had. The loved the people, the atmosphere, the entertainment, the lot!
It is a tragedy that the city has let itself down in this regard. And, I wonder what am I doing trying to promote my native city here in Dorset if the city can’t support one of the greatest fun events that has been created in my lifetime.
As my grandmother would have said: “Doll diedy!”
bbq organisers were eligible for funding, i applied for funding for the regional fund about two years ago for a festival in galway and you don’t need a 10 grand spend on pr and marketing, you need to spend 5 grand and the other five grand is matched by failte ireland. I read that letter the organisers wrote and i think they would have been eligible. the five grand can be made up of an organisers fee, printing, press releases etc. The bottom line is they should have applied. You can’t expect a local authority to spend tens of thousands on a bbq in the middle of a recession
The PArkway Shopping Centre are running a similar event to Riverfeast on 20th June next. The event is open to all and is a competition event with a strong emphasis on entretainment and fun. If you want any details you can see the Parkway Web site, they have entry forms to download there as well. http://www.parkwayshoppingcentre.com