A Baby Robin
Photo: Chris Grayson
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The Big Fair
in photos and a poem
The Big Fair of Listowel
Tom Mulvihill
Now Marco Polo went to China
But I swear upon my soul
He should have come the other
way
To The Big Fair in Listowel.
There he’d see what he didn’t
see
At the court of Kubla Khan,
The greatest convocation ever
Since God created man.
There were bullocks in from
Mortra
And cows from Carrig Island
Sheep and gosts from Graffa
And pigs from Tullahinel.
There were men with hats and
caps
Of every shape and size on,
And women in brown shawls and
black,
A sight to feast your eyes
on.
The finest fare was to be had
In all the eating places.
A sea of soup and big meat
pies,
Some left over from the
Races.
Floury spuds and hairy bacon
Asleep on beds of cabbage,
To satisfy a gentleman
A cannibal or savage.
And here and there among the
throng
‘tis easy spot the jobbers
Jack O’Dea from County Clare
And Owen McGrath from Nobber.
There was Ryan from Tipperary
And McGinley from Tyrone.
Since ‘twas only Kerry cattle
Could walk that distance
home.
And trotting up and down the
street
Were frisky mares and
stallions,
While here and there in
little groups
Drinking porter by the
gallons
Were all the travelling
people,
The Carthys and the Connors,
The Maughans and the Coffeys-
Gentle folk with gentle
manners.
And there you’d see old
fashioned men
With moustaches like yard
brushes
And more of them with beards
that big
You’d take them for sloe
bushes.
Up there outside the market
gate
A matron old and wrinkled
Was selling salty seagrass
And little bags of winkles.
Inside the gate were country
men,
Selling spuds and mangolds
While swarthy men from Egypt
Sold necklaces and bangles
And there you’ll find the
laying ducks
Or broody hens for hatching,
Creels of turf and wheaten
straw,
With scallops for the
thatching.
Dealers down from Dublin
Did there set up their
stands,
Selling boots and pinstripe
suits
Both new and second hand.
Cups and saucers you could
buy
Both singly or in lots,
And for your convenience late
at night,
White enamel chamber pots.
If you had an ear for music
You could buy a finch or
linnet,
And to bring your winter turf
home
A Spanish ass or jennet.
And across at Walshe’s Corner
Stood a ballad singing fellow
Selling sheets- a penny each
Red and white and blue and
yellow.
He was an old sean nós man
If you ne’er had music in you
He’s stop you in your stride,
man
And you’d not begrudge the
penny.
For he’d bring you back to
Vinegar Hill
And to Kelly from Killane
Or you’d stand again in
Thomas Street
And you’d see the darling
man.
But woe alas for the singing
man
The Dublin dealer and the
drover,
The days of catch whatever
you can
Are dead and gone and over.
Now we have fleadhs and
Writers’ Weeks
And a plethora of rigmarole
But who remembers as I
remember
The big fair in Listowel.
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Still a Charity Shop
but now for a different charity
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New Parking Sign
These blue Parking signs are appearing all over town.
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A Step Back in Time
Louise Galvin took a step back in time to when she wore the brown uniform herself. Louise visited Presentation Secondary School, Listowel where she was once a star pupil and a hero of the school basketball team.