Europe’s oldest horse fair cancelled for this year
President Michael D Higgins checking the stock at the Ballinasloe horse fair in 2018. Picture: Hany Marzouk.
One of Europe’s oldest horse fairs has been cancelled.
This year’s Ballinasloe Horse Fair in County Galway has officially been cancelled due to the Covid pandemic.
Confirmation was given at last week’s meeting of the Ballinasloe municipal district.
The Ballinasloe Horse Fair is the oldest and largest event of its kind in Europe, attracting close to 100 thousand visitors every year in the first week of October.
While many suspected this year’s event would not be going ahead for obvious reasons, there had been discussions on hosting some form of limited event.
But, the event is now officially off – following meetings between Galway County Council and the festival committee, as well as other stakeholders including Gardaí and public health.
The advice given and accepted was that a non-ticketed event, in which crowds or social distancing cannot be controlled, would not be viable in the context of Covid-19.
In a statement, the Ballinasloe Horse Fair Co-ordinating committee said: ‘’After consultation with the HSE, the coordination committee was advised that it is unlikely that assurances could be given that we will have a return to normality with the removal of all Covid-19 restrictions for public and outdoor gatherings by October 2021.”
Instead, it was acknowledged, there should be a renewed focus on next year’s landmark event – which marks the 300th anniversary of the iconic Ballinasloe Horse Fair.
As well as been cancelled in 2021 and 2020 the event was also cancelled in 2001 due to the Foot and Mouth pandemic.
