This weekend was meant to be the opening of the annual Lady of the Lake Festival in Irvinestown, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, organisers made the difficult decision to cancel this year’s festival. Speaking to The Impartial Reporter, Festival Chairwoman Lisa Wallace said: “It’s heartbreaking to think that from Friday we’d have been bringing 10 days of enjoyment to people. It is a big devastation for Irvinestown because it relies on its tourists coming in to boost the town and that’s not going to happen this year but I still think we made the right decision in not doing it. As we say, we’ll make it bigger and better for next year.”

In the absence of this year’s Lady of the Lake Festival, Festival Vice Chairman Joe Mahon shared some of his favourite highlights of the festival over the years.

Reminiscing, Joe said: “One of the big ones was the 101 Dalmatians show. We advertised for anyone who had a Dalmatian to bring them to Irvinestown.”

Joe noted that around 4,000 people turned up to Necarne for the Dalmatian event that year.

“First, for a bit of fun we put black spots on sheep. All the children were waiting on Dalmatians and we brought the black and white spotty sheep in,” laughed Joe.

“Then we brought in Friesian cows and then black and white goats. In the end up we brought in the Dalmatians. It was a great show,” he added.

Joe recalled another festival where the town took on a Western theme.

“We said we’d rob a bank in the street and the Northern Bank at that time had a big window in the front of it. I made an appointment with the manager, he thought I was in to open an account. I literally went up to the counter and I said, ‘a festival is coming up, we’re going to stage a robbery in the town, we’re going to let on that we’re going to rob the Northern Bank and all the people can watch from outside because of the big window’. He said he needed to check with head office and the insurance but then eventually they wouldn’t let us do it,” said Joe. Not to be disheartened, a vacant building in the town was used instead. “We set up the ‘Bank of Irvinesville’. We had all ones dressed up as cowboys to rob the bank and there was a big shoot out on the street. There was a big turn out,” shared Joe.

Other highlights of Joe’s included the year they put up a £30,000 reward for whoever could bring a live leprechaun to the town and the sheep dung spitting competition which made it into the Ripley’s Believe It or Not annual.

From 101 Dalmatians to robbing banks, the Lady of the Lake Festival never ceases to surprise. Who knows what will be on offer next year as organisers promise to return with the biggest and best festival yet.