This past weekend was this unofficial trad festival going on in all the pubs around Ballyvaughan. I guess it's been going on for 28 years or so, and it's basically a bunch of different musicians from Wales, Britian and Ireland coming together and playing music in all the pubs. I hear its a somewhat memorial for a fellow musician who was killed here a while back? But they more or less wander into pubs with their instruments and just start playing. It was pretty amazing to be honest. It was nice to hear some rich traditional music, just all the different instruments and singing, it was really an experience I'll never forget.

Friday night we ended up at Louges, which had some of the local musicians playing. We've seen them play before, but it was nice to hear them again.

Kaetlyn was even conned into playing the whistle for a few songs! I was really glad she did it, because she rarely plays in front of people.

This woman was so funny. Anytime she would take a sip of her drink, especially after the first sip, she would just have this look of disgust on her face. Yet she kept drinking it.

This is Mike, enjoying the wonderful sounds filling the pub.

This is Kaetlyn, also enjoying the sounds, so much so she isn't paying attention to me photographing her.

The second night we headed out a bit later than planned due to a (somewhat) failed attempt at making soda bread (by somewhat I mean it took 4 hours to make when it was supposed to be 1, and yet it still came out and it was all eaten that night.) We stopped into Greene's at first and stayed for a few songs but after a while the huge crowd in that tiny pub just got to much and we left. Shame though because the music was really beautiful there. There was even a harp! I couldn't get many pictures though, there were to many people to do so.

We left Greenes and heard some story telling and singing outside of O'Lochlains(?) and decided instead of fighting the crowd, as that pub is even smaller and we could see people standing against the doors, we stood outside and listened. We could hear them perfectly and it was a really lovely night, so we didn't mind.

But we eventually decided to go inside, and it was a good thing. Because the singing in that pub was just really captivating and it was just so much better actually seeing it and not just hearing it.

The last and final night we made sure to get out there early, even though we knew it wouldn't be as busy on a sunday night. We stopped at Greene's again and luckily most of the same musicians from the previous night were there so we got to hear them play again.

After a bit we decided to go to O'Lochlains again in hopes there would be more singing. And there was! Sad thing is my camera died, so I didn't get as many photo's as I'd like. But the experience was more than enough.

All the different music and knowing you could just walk into a pub and hear it that weekend was really a treat. I'm kind of sad that doesn't happen every weekend. It's this kind of culture I just love. The music and the togetherness it brings. It was sad though looking around and knowing we were the youngest in the pubs. It's a dying tradition and it's a shame.