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Kerry mayor opens major Frankfurt festival
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THE Cathaoirleach of Kerry County Council, Cllr Michael O’Shea, joined the Mayor of Frankfurt Burgermeister, Peter Feldmann, in Frankfurt at the weekend to officially open the Frankfurt-Hoechst Castle Festival.
The visit coincided with the selection of County Kerry as the international festival partner for 2017. The festival, now in its 61st year, is one of Frankfurt’s largest annual cultural events and runs for almost three weeks.
There is a Kerry connection with the festival stretching back to 2009 when the first link was made between Hoechst and Tralee. In subsequent years the German Rose Selection has formed part of the festival programme and the two Mayors were on stage for the announcement of this year’s German Rose who is Áine Sullivan, from Dusseldorf, whose parents come from Dublin and Cork.
The festival is a great opportunity to promote Kerry Tourism and Kerry Airport in Germany, according to Kerry County Council Tourism Officer, John Griffin: “There is a Kerry Tourism promotional tent located at the festival venue, staffed by Kerry tourism groups and German volunteers, on each of the three weekends. Kerry dancers and musicians performed at the opening ceremony on June 24 and will return again on the final weekend, July 7 to 10.
“Germany is Ireland’s largest continental source market with 620,000 visiting in 2016 and Kerry is their most popular regional destination. In the first four months of 2017, the number of German visitors to Ireland grew by a further 4% according to Tourism Ireland.”
Kerry County Council and Destination Kerry, supported by Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland, are focussing on further increases in this regard. Already this year the various bodies including the Council have participated at the CMT Travel Fair in Stuttgart and ITB in Berlin. Ryanair, in addition to its long running Frankfurt-Hahn to Kerry service, will operate new direct flights from Berlin to Kerry Airport from November, and the new Lufthansa Frankfurt-Shannon service will also increase the number of German visitors travelling to Kerry.
Eight Bar of the Year nominations for ODR group
The O’Donoghue Ring Collection has secured eight finalist nominations across three of its venues at this year’s Bar of the Year Awards.
Café du Parc, Pig’s Lane, and The Kenmare Rooms at the Killarney Avenue Hotel were all named among the nation’s top hospitality spots after the shortlist was chosen from over 1,000 entries nationwide.
Café du Parc was shortlisted for both Hotel Bar of the Year and Hotel Cocktail Bar of the Year.
Underground bar Pig’s Lane claimed five nominations, including Innovative Bar of the Year, Best Designed Bar, Cocktail Bar of the Year, and Whiskey Bar of the Year. Bartender Aušrinė Kikilytė was also named a finalist for Cocktail Bartender of the Year.
Rounding out the success, The Kenmare Rooms at the Killarney Avenue Hotel earned a spot on the shortlist for Bar Food of the Year.
The winners will be announced at a gala ceremony on August 24 at the Clayton Hotel in Dublin.
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