Heritage boats and barges to visit Athlone in August

The big boats are coming...

Close to 60 heritage boats including up to 30 historic cargo barges will descend on Athlone this August for a week-long visit.

The stay, which is set to provide a major tourism boost, will be marked by a week-long festival incorporating the Athlone Summer Festival, Town Clerk Hugh O’Reilly confirmed this week.

The as yet un-named event will run from August 10 to 18 next and will coincide with the National Finals of the Community Games and Heritage Week and of course, during the year of The Gathering.

“We’re hoping to pull all of these things together to have a big week-long festival,” enthused Mr O’Reilly this week, adding that a full programme of activities will publicised in three to four weeks time.

“It will be quite a spectacle with the boats bringing colour and people into the town,” he noted, appealing for local groups or organisations interested in putting on events during the festivities to come forward to Carmel Duffy in the council as soon as possible.

Among the activities planned for the week include a visit by the popular French market, music by the water and various family activities.

The large open-air concerts of the last few years are not set to be a feature this time around, the council spokesperson explained, saying that he hopes pubs and businesses come on board and get involved to create a colourful atmosphere for the arrival of the spectacular boats.

PRO of the Heritage Boat Association Paul Martin, told the Westmeath Independent that members from all over the country are really looking forward their first visit to Athlone en mass in a fleet, promising that a great week of activities is planned.

“These boats would have been old commercial cargo barges before the canals closed. They were the juggernauts of their time and many have long and interesting histories,” he said, stating that many of the older horse drawn barges date back to the 1890s and the second generation mechanised versions hark back to the 1920s.

Famously known to many as Guinness boats for transporting the 'black stuff’ along the Grand and Royal canals, he explained that the boats actually carried lots of different items from barley to fuel and foodstuffs during that era.

A lecture series and demonstrations will be held in the Luan Gallery during the week-long visit, with a community photography competition and a display of canal artefacts, just a few of the other activities planned.

“It should be a great sight. The quays will be full that week. The boats will be lit up every night so it will be like a 24 hour display,” Mr Martin pointed out, saying that they also hope to meet up with relatives of people who would have worked on the barges or are associated with the steamer traffic in days gone by.

“There’s huge interest in the boats. Every place we bring them draws the crowds. They are like a floating museum, really full of heritage,” he concluded.