Sligo Fleadh Cheoil, Ireland 1989

After a damp start the sun shines on the crowds in Sligo for music and fun at the fleadh.
The local Comhaltas organisation paid the national organisation £40,000 for the right to stage the Fleadh.
Vincent Hearns of the Fleadh Organising Committee outlines the costs involved in running the event which can reach between sixty and seventy thousand pounds. Sligo will be looking to host the event again next year and he is quietly confident that the town will be successful.
It’s been a hectic but trouble-free weekend.
This is the first time that the All Ireland Fleadh Cheoil, now in its 39th consecutive year, has been hosted in Sligo. One of the main advantages of staging the Fleadh in Sligo is that it attracts large crowds from across the border.
Local publicans and other businesses have stocked up with record amounts of supplies. They will have to wait until after the festival to assess if their efforts have been justified and they have reaped the economic rewards.
Around two thousand musicians, singers, dancers and bands from around the globe are taking part in the festival which is expected to attract over a hundred thousand people to the town.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 27 August 1989. The reporter is Tommie Gorman.