Fair Day in The West Of Ireland, Elphin, Co. Roscommon, 1971

‘Fair Day’ is a portrait of a dying tradition the buying and selling of livestock in Elphin, Co. Roscommon.
For hundreds of years the Fair Day was an integral party of the life of every rural community.
There’s talk of prices at other fairs, of how the winter feed lasted, and how well the lambing went.
This excerpt from the film shows the preparations on the morning of the fair as farmers herd their livestock and gather in the town to begin trading at the mart.
The dealers are impatient men. They would like to buy quickly and leave for another fair in another town.
‘Fair Day’ was broadcast on 21 December 1971. The narrator is Bill Golding and the script was written by Wesley Burrowes.
‘Fair Day’ was RTÉ’s entry in the 1971 Golden Harp Festival. While it did not win, the film did get highly recommended.