The Broad Majestic Shannon festival was held earlier this month in the village of Kilbarron, the ancestral home to the Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan, celebrating the legacy left by him.
As part of the festival, a booklet was created, with a map of all the places across north Tipperary that were important to Mr MacGowan, as well as featuring a self-portrait created by the man himself.
Despite being born in England, Shane MacGowan spent childhood holidays in Kilbarron, just outside Borrisokane, near where his mother hailed from.
At the September meeting of the Nenagh Municipal District, councillors were told that requests have come in from all over the world looking for a copy of the booklet.
“As part of the festival, this brochure was launched, and has some unique photographs which were contributed by Victoria Mary Clarke (Mr MacGowan’s partner) and Siobhan MacGowan, and there’s also sketches that were done by Shane himself and some of his writings,” Nenagh district administrator Rosemary Joyce said.
“It also shows a trail, and the map of that, starting off in Nenagh and going around the whole area, and we have agreed that the tourist office in Nenagh will distribute the brochure.”
Interest in the brochure has come from as far afield as Australia, Serbia, and the United States—showing the global pull of MacGowan’s legacy.
“Between 5pm yesterday and 9am this morning, we’ve had over 100 emails requesting copies of the brochure, and they came from far and wide. There were requests from England, Scotland, the Netherlands, Germany, Australia, Serbia, Spain, the USA, Canada, Wales, Norway, Finland and France, as well as many counties in Ireland,” Ms Joyce said.
Ms Joyce added that a number of people who had been in touch planned to visit the area in the coming years, and wanted to follow the trail of places that were special to the former Pogues frontman, while two historical societies from Clare and Kildare have also said they plan to visit Nenagh next year, and want to add the trail to their itinerary.
“The potential of this is a fantastic tribute to the late, great Shane MacGowan, and it has the potential to grow tourism in the area, and that level of interaction will show how successful it has been,” Ms Joyce added.
Councillor John Carroll said that the festival was well received, and that it was great to see all the tourism it brought into the area.
Fianna Fáil councillor JP O’Meara said that there was huge potential for the festival to grow over the years.
“There is definitely massive potential for this festival, and I think this booklet is the roadmap for what it could expand to with different events across a certain length of time over all the different areas that are near and dear to Shane and his legacy,” he said.
Independent councillor Joe Hannigan was involved in the organising of the festival, and thanked Tipperary County Council for all their help in getting the festival off the ground.
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme