Stepping back may be the way forward for Listowel
They came to spend the money they had earned from the summer’s work — and they enjoyed it.
The appeal of the opportunity to let one’s hair down in the carnival atmosphere of the racetrack initially drew the local community but, such was its success, it soon stretched beyond the town and county bounds.
There was an appetite for such revelry and the locals, in their inimitable way, provided the welcome which had the wider audience returning year upon year. Inevitably, the simple rules of supply and demand encouraged the expansion of the meeting and through the continued support and success of the festival, it grew to its current guise of a seven-day extravaganza.
The moniker of the ‘harvest sfestival’ prompts the notion of a rustic scene with hoards of hardy, wizened farmers, labourers and farm hands transferred, unchanged, from their fields to the surrounds of an idyllic racetrack, merrily enjoying the entertainment.
And on so many levels, Listowel still does not disappoint. The imagery may be somewhat different but the characters are there and the Kerry National provides a suitable backdrop to their enjoyment.
But for all of its agricultural appeal, Listowel has not been able to avoid the tightening grip of the recession and its effect was palpable. The figures will reveal that the crowd was down on previous years but, nevertheless, there was a very healthy assembly, thronging the three stands, descending intermittently to fill the betting ring.
Quite how that movement translated into betting activity is less obvious as there was a distinct sense that this was a party everyone wanted to be at but one very few could afford to really enjoy.
Listowel runs for seven days and that makes great financial demands on the audience it can attract. When the fare is good, as was the case yesterday, the appeal is clearly still there.
Kerry National Day is great but the concern must be for the other six days. I put that to local man and Listowel Races committee member Pat Healy, and was surprised and refreshed by his answers.
A renowned racing photographer, whose vast experience of the racing calendar nationwide allows him an informed opinion on the state of racing in this country, he understands what racegoers want and expect in this era.
“The days of expecting people to pay their money at the gate and just run seven or eight races are gone,” said Healy. “You’re competing with everything now.
“So, for €20, you can come in and get decent food, decent drink, a day’s racing, some after-racing music and a bit of craic. For a festival such as this you have to have that in place and it seems to work here, thankfully.
“But the way it has been this summer, I’m starting to think that, on some days, maybe €20 is too much.
“I don’t think it’s too dear today, Kerry National day. It’s a top-class card, with a feature worth €160,000. You also have a listed race on an eight-race programme. It’s great value. But maybe it was too much on Monday.”
As a country, we’ve emerged from a time when excess was only just enough but, chastened by the economic downturn, we’ve all had to rethink our financial situations. Rather than hiding behind the tradition of a seven-day festival, Healy embraces the possibility of what might be considered radical change, if for the betterment of the meeting.
“They tell me in the old days, when it was a five-day festival, it was the perfect festival,” he added. “People came and they stayed four nights. They arrived on the Monday morning and they left on the Friday evening. Nowadays, there are very few staying six nights.
“I’m not saying we’re going to do that [revert to a five-day festival] but we’ll certainly look at it. Everybody knows the times we’re in now and maybe for the next few years — and maybe not just Listowel.
“We have nine days racing in the year and we need those nine days. We have a two-day meeting in June and seven days in September but maybe we can re-jig it. We might be able to have another day in June, five days in September and a day or two in October.
“When you have the local people around the town saying that maybe seven days is too much, and when you have the people that are involved in the industry, the professionals, telling you the same, you have to sit down and you have to look at it.
“I’m not saying we’re not going to have seven days next year but I am saying it’s something we’re going to have to talk about.”
In boom times, such a move would have been considered economic suicide. Now, it might make perfect sense.
