Kilkenny was the centre of attention in the Czech Republic recently when local ballad group The Kilkennys (aka Uisce Beatha ) entertained thousands of Eastern Europeans as the headline act for the Irish Cultural Festival in the thriving city of Ostrava.
The popular musicians were not the only ones representing the marble city, Councillor Andrew McGuinness was also invited to promote Kilkenny and endorse a new business set-up by Ballyragget man Michael O'Reilly.
This year, following the development of Ormonde Organics International in Ostrava by Mr O'Reilly, the festival, which has now been running for five years under the guidance of Limerick native Jason Fitzgerald, took a Kilkenny theme with Cllr Andrew McGuinness pushing the Kilkenny message in terms of tourism and business.
"It was a great weekend with regards to putting Kilkenny into the minds of people who may never have considered visiting before,” said Cllr McGuinness who addressed the 300 guests at the reception and dinner.
“It was also a good opportunity to promote a Kilkenny business that has recently been established in Ostrava and now Ormonde Organics International has created a real niche for itself there. The real highlight of the weekend was The Kilkennys, their name says it all. I was gobsmacked by their performance and the fact is that they are promoting Kilkenny on a national stage and people don't even realise," said Cllr McGuinness.
Playing songs like 'Go Lassie Go', 'Fields of Athenry', 'Lonesome Boatman' and 'Beautiful Affair', The Kilkennys won the Czech audience instantly. Front man David Cashin said it was a fantastic experience to see traditional music go down so well with a foreign audience.”Czech people are now buying our album and DVD online and we are looking forward to returning to Ostrava. For now we will continue with our Irish dates but in June we travel to Las Vegas to play a week of shows there,”he added
Specialising in waste disposal with Ormonde Organics, Michael O'Reilly was delighted that his home county was associated with the festival in his new city of residence. "Having The Kilkennys there to entertain the crowds and Cllr Andrew McGuinness to promote Kilkenny from a tourism and business point of view was of great benefit to me,” explained Mr O’Reilly.
