'There was nothing like it at the time': WellFest founders on turning a passion into reality 10 years ago
Don King Dance Party will return to WellFest this weekend. Picture: Marc O'Sullivan.
More than 10,000 health and wellbeing enthusiasts are expected to descend on Dublin this weekend for Europe’s largest health, fitness and wellness festival.
The IMMA at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham will be home to a whole host of outdoor fitness classes, health talks, meditation sessions, and wellbeing workshops for this year’s WellFest.
Maeve Madden, Joe and Rosie Wicks, Spencer Matthews, Bressie, Kellie Harrington, Danny O’Reilly, Blindboy, Gerry Hussey, Kevin Twomey, and Emma Barry are among those making an appearance at this year’s festival — a testament to the WellFest team who work tirelessly to secure the best of the best each year.
The success of WellFest today has been no mean feat for its four founders — Fionnualla Cleary, Helena Ryan, Kate Ryan and Anthony Kelly.
Sitting down with two of the four founders — Fionnualla Cleary and Kate Ryan — ahead of this year’s festival is a real eye-opener into the passion, commitment, and logistics required to bring the festival to life.
Cleary and Ryan give me insight into how they made their dream a reality, the rise in global wellness, and how they continue to put on a show each year.
Speaking about the dream that started it all, Cleary said: “This is our 10th anniversary, so it’s about 12 years ago since the dream started and it grew out of a love of festivals, wellness and outdoor yoga pop-ups. We loved getting out in the fresh air at lunchtime. Getting oxygen, getting a break from the corporate environment and just that feel-good factor after a workout as well.
“We also have a love for festivals, and we were thinking, imagine if there was a festival where you felt amazing afterwards — inspired and uplifted.”
Cleary worked in law with Helena at the time, whose sister Kate worked for Fuel and studied pharmacy, and her now- husband Anthony had worked in events and set up a business.
All four decided they would give this idea of hosting an outdoor festival that focused on health, fitness and wellness, with a boutique feel and stretch tents, a go.
They had their first meeting at a coffee shop on Wellington Road more than 10 years ago where they drew sketches and discussed plans.
Fast forward to September 2015 when the first-ever one-day WellFest event was held at Herbert Park with about one thousand attendees on the day.
“After that first one we knew we were onto something and that people were keen,” Ryan says.
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“There was a big festival scene at the time and it might have even been bigger than it is now… music scene… and at the time those runs and yoga pop-ups were popular but very small,” Cleary adds.
“So, honestly it was a bit of a leap. I don’t know if any financial adviser would have sat down and said this is a great idea.
“As the years have gone on, and the wellness industry has grown, it makes more sense from a business point of view but initially it was a passion.”
Ryan adds that at the time, in their 20s, they were into their health and wellness but also enjoyed partying at festivals, and saw a gap for a festival that was fun and uplifting but that prioritised people’s health.
“There was definitely a gap. There was nothing like it at the time and now, in the 10 years that we’ve been around, there’s obviously lots of different events in Ireland but also across the globe. We’ve seen some of these types of festivals, but I think we were the first in Europe to start this,” Ryan says.
Cleary touches on the shifting trends of the wellness industry and how more people are actively choosing to prioritise their health and wellbeing.
“Your health is your wealth and I think Covid highlighted that for everyone who lost people or have long covid or even got it [the virus] — it was horrible. So, I think people came out of that with a different perspective,” she says.
“Also I think the millennials are more work, work, work… climb the corporate ladder, whereas the Gen Z’s are more balanced.
“We were probably at the start of that curve maybe. That’s how the whole idea grew and we saw that that’s what people needed. A break from that millennial corporate rat race.” Ryan also highlights the impact of social media on the wellness industry in recent years.
“Irish people are definitely putting their health and wellness first; we’ve seen that. But social media is a massive influence on people. For example, when we started out, Joe Wicks had about 300,000 followers, and I remember finding him on Instagram and thinking we have to get this guy to headline; he’s going to be the one. And now he has over four million followers.
“So definitely the online world has boomed health and wellness and had a massive influence on people. And then obviously the targeted marketing that comes with that. If you are into health and wellness, that is what you are being targeted on social media.”
Speaking about the demographic of the festival, Ryan said that three out of the four festival founders being female has had a massive impact as they know what their audience wants — but they expect an increase in men attending the festival with the introduction of their Well Man stage.
“We get such a mix of people. We’re now doing over 65s and my mum loves going to it. Even if it’s just to go to the Well Village and go to a few talks. There is something for everyone, even if you’re not pounding out at Pound on the main stage,” Ryan says.
Cleary adds: “Three out of four founders are female and our audience is about three-quarters female as well. That might shift a little bit because we have a new stage this year, Well Man, which might bring in more men.”
Touching on the production of the festival, Ryan says: “It’s a massive production now. It was just the four of us, then we got two full-time employees, and then in 2019 we sold half the business to Fuel HQ and so now the team is much larger. They run the production side of things and we sit on the board and we’ll contribute to everything that goes on in terms of lineup, layout and other ideas. But the production side is full-on; there’s probably five working on it full time and then Fuel has other festivals to work on like Beyond the Pale.
Cleary adds that WellFest will always be their first baby and will always be part of their lives.
“We’re always coming up with ideas and even looking for talent for next year… we’ve already started talking about that well before now.”
Cleary and Ryan also touch on branching out into the north of Ireland with the introduction of the inaugural WellFest NI. The festival will take place in Belfast from September 12 to September 13, bringing some of the best in the industry to Ormeau Park.
- Weekend WellFest tickets are sold out. Some day tickets are still available. Visit WellFest.ie.
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