Iverk Show 2011

The Saturday Iverk Show again proved a great attraction for visiting crowds. They came from all five south east counties and beyond to the beautiful South Kilkenny venue.

It was a day when country met city and vice versa, as people came to see cattle, vintage farm machinery champion chickens and show jumping.

The show seems to have more variety each year. The Blanchardstown Brass band also in its 185th year like the show, performed popular tunes to the relaxed crowd sitting on hay bales.

The famous Iverk Great Cherry Cake had 74 entries and Waterford women Julie Piggott. and Ann Barron were brought in to make sure there was independent adjudication.

Julie said they were looking for a cake that was: “Evenly distributed with cherries, a light cake, not dry and evenly mixed.” Ann and Julie said it was very hard to pick a winner and in the end it went to Lauren Power.

Matt O’Keeffe farmer and presenter of the very popular KCLR 96fm farm programme was there and said it was as marvellous show its because it is based in the community. “With so many volunteers it has taken on a life of its own and it has been run very professionally for along number of years,” he said. He added that it was well laid out and that ease of access was a big bonus.
One of the most popular stands was that of Sheridan’s Insurance where there was a mechanical rodeo bull. There was a queue to get on the back of the contraption and needless to say nobody managed to stay on too long. Have to say it was good gimmick for an insurance broker. Liam Moylan of Enviroclad Systems with his specialist covering for food preparation areas, cold rooms was busy and he had a steady stream of visitors to his stand as had Eoin Carroll of Bennettsbridge Limestone Quarries.

Two politicians had stands at the show. Cllr Eamon Aylward from Mullinavat of Fianna Fail was helped out by his uncle and MEP, the ever popular Liam Aylward and his wife Kathleen who seemed to be doing most of the work. Eamon received a good reaction from the crowd and said it was important to to come and meet people.

All Photo's courtesy of
Charlie Maher Photographer

Everyone went home happy and this year the most popular items seemed to be the bonny baby competition, the food plaza, dog show and the poultry section where there was a major increase in entries, reflecting the fact that it in times of recession people go back to being self sustainable.

If there was a theme running through the show it was that of going back to what worked in the old days. The quality of the bread, cakes, jams, jellies, honey and everything else was top class and people went home with pots of locally produced good quality food. And its hard to imagine in this day and age, but there is a awaiting list for machinery exhibits at the show with many of the big names in the agri-trading world confiding that thy sell more at Iverk than anywhere else and that includes the National Ploughing Championships.

In fact trade stands were up by 30% and there was outstanding quality in the livestock section with the Maid of Avonmore going to a Cork man and Brian Cody was forced (he actually did it voluntarily) to present him with the cup. There was also plenty of controversy in the cattle section over weights while the horse and pony classes were hugely popular and with four jumping arenas going all day it added up to one of the best Iverk Show’s ever.

It ran smoothly and this was a vindication of the new traffic plan put in place by Thomastown gardai as there were no traffic jams.

Former Kilkenny senior hurler Sean Fennelly of Ballyhale Shamrocks was hopeful of a Kilkenny win on Sunday

While legend Eddie Keher was busy selling merchandise from the Kilkenny Hurling supporter’s Club unit. The ICA was well represented with its own tent and it was very popular. There was also keen interest in getting official GAA black and amber pyjamas and yes the trader also sold a good few Tipp pyjamas. It was the first years of the Piltown Community allotments. They had a stand at the show Paul Dalton said they had about 31 allotments, ranging from potatoes, onions, cabbage, all kinds of vegetables and some of them are organic. He is hoping that even more people will get involved next year. Richie Casey and Anthony Cooney have long been involved in the vegetable section and pointed out that this year was not a great year for produce because of the wind, lack of sun and rain. They both agreed that it was however, a good year for onions and that was obvious from the fabulous display from competitors.