European U-18 silver medalist Fintan Dewhirst to open Glenties Harvest Fair

The Glenties Harvest Fair festival was officially launched last night with thanks to European U-18 Silver Medalist Fintan Dewhirst, who will be opening the festival which begins on Thursday, September 8.

The festival is jam packed with events to suit all ages, with headline acts, Rory and the Island, Mickey Joe Harte, Robert Mizzell, Humble Earthworms, a ladies night, sports competitions, children's fun day to name but a few. 

The Sunday sees a carnival added to the traditional parade of floats and marching bands. And the culmination of the five-day event which runs to September 12, is the traditional harvest fair day, which is the biggest and probably the oldest fair day in the country. 

Along with the street traders, there’s also traditional craft makers, the return of a sheep market and music on the street with a trad session and dancing in memory of Glenties’ two finest fiddle players, Vincent and Jimmy Campbell. 

This fair day draws close to 30,000 people and is well worth a visit. All details of the events are on Glenties harvest fair festival Facebook and instagram pages and on www.glenties.ie for accommodation and listings.

Dewhirst ran the race of his life to secure a silver medal for Ireland in the 400m Hurdles final at the European Under-18 Athletic Championships at the Hebrew Stadium in Jerusalem last month. A member of Tír Chonaill AC and student at St Columba’s Comprehensive School Glenties, Dewhirst ran a PB of 61.65 seconds to come home in second place behind race winner, Norway's Elnan Aurstad.