Mullingar’s popular bachelor festival returned after a gap of 14 years this week, and was won by 53-year-old Londoner, Garry Keating.
The festival, now re-branded The Joe Dolan International Westmeath Bachelor Festival, was held in Mullingar over the bank holiday weekend as one of only three flagship events scheduled for The Gathering in Westmeath.
In front of a large crowd of supporters and guests on Sunday evening, August 4, Garry was selected as the 2013 Bachelor of the Year, the eldest of which was a 79-year-old from Kilkenny.
The judges were model and reality TV star Jo Jordan, matchmaker Avril Mulcahy, and Mullingar’s legendary singer songwriter Jimmy Swarbrigg.
Garry received a prize of €1,500, a trophy and also a special prize from the Greville Arms Hotel of a free wedding reception if he gets married within the year, a prize which Garry says he would seriously try to get.
The nine bachelors were in town from Friday evening and attended functions and parties throughout the weekend, as well as having interviews with the judges.
Westmeath was represented by Ballinea bachelor William Kiernan (31 ), a yoga teacher with a degree in quantity surveying.
