Summer for many parents is a time when they bring their children to the various Fleadhanna at County, Provincial and All-Ireland Level.

The main attraction for a child when attending a Fleadh is not about winning the competition, but the opportunity to showcase their talents in public. To a large extent the buzz of attending a Fleadh, is about meeting old friends in new places and making new friends. There is no doubt the pandemic has interrupted the best laid plans for the holding Fleadh Cheoil Chiarraí in Milltown in 2020 and 2021, but hopefully, it will be back in 2022.

However, regardless of the difficulties posed by the COVID-19 restrictions, doing nothing is just not an option for the hard working officers and volunteers in Kerry Comhaltas Ceolteoirí Eireann. They still managed to put together an impressive programme of events to mark what would traditionally be the Fleadh weekend in Kerry on the third weekend in June.

Firstly, they organised an art competition amongst the national schools which attracted a high level and standard of entries from throughout the county. Congratulations to Amy Mangan of Loughfouder National School (Knocknagoshel) who won the U9 competition, and Kate O'Neill of Scoil Nuachabháil (Ballymacelligot), who was successful in the U12 competition. There was an U15 category in art also and the winner was Cathal Fitzgerald, Scoil Eoin, Balluamhnach, Trá Lí.

Secondly, members and non-members were asked to submit a history project about a local musician or tradition in their area. Once again the standard of entries that were received was just fantastic and the organising team had great difficulty in arriving at their decisions. On this occasion the winners were Sean Fleming of Kilcummin in the U12 section with his project on the famous Sliabh Luachra accordion player Johnny O’Leary. The winner in the U15 competition was Maebh O'Leary of Ballyhar with her project on her grandfather, the late Denis McMahon, who was renowned in musical circles as 'The Man with the Hat'.

Thirdly, Kerry CCE put together a family concert which was aired on YouTube on the Saturday night of the Fleadh weekend. A number of families from throughout the county entertained everybody with their music, song and dance without having to leave home. The concert is still available to see on the Kerry CCE Facebook page and is well worth a look.

And if all that wasn’t enough to keep people busy and entertained, FleadhFest Chiarraí was also launched to the public on the week of June 17 to 21 to coincide with the annual Fleadh Cheoil Chiarraí. It is a series of five specially produced programmes which showcase our musicians, singers, dancers, poets, storytellers, sporting heroes, an Ghaeilge, our cultural centres and our archive footage to a global audience. These programmes are available to view now on our Kerry Comhaltas YouTube channel, Kerrycomhaltas Facebook page and Kerrycomhaltas.ie.