RSVP; theatre, film, events, workshops.

PRESS RELEASE Kinsale Halloween Parade Sent-Artistic Director Yvonne Coughlan: 086-0479228¦ 31 October 2021¦

kinsalehalloweenparade@gmail.com¦ Images John Allen.  

Kinsale Halloween Parade, 2021.

Sunday 31st October saw children, parents, performers, and the local community in general gather in Kinsale Town Park from 3pm to meet fun Halloween characters, and see the fabulous costumes that would later be awarded prizes. The inclement weather of the morning had cleared up to allow people to sit and enjoy the day’s spooky fashion, as well as, admire the work of décor team Zoë Greenway, Becca Geden, Amber Borges and Shaun O Callaghan, lead by Katy Mullins. 

A mischievous Christmas elf, and a host of stewards entertained or scouted out best dressed prize winners in the park. Katy provided face-painting for those who needed a little extra Halloween power. Joseph kept the tunes and the cartoons rolling thanks to Thomas Suderland connecting up the power.

The first programmed performances of the day were by the 2nd year drama students of Kinsale College of Further Education, run by Ian and Belinda Wilde, and directed by tutor Marcus Bale. Hamlet’s witches played by Debora Caldas, Dultra Nogueira, Rua Rí, Joanna, Peter Wright, Isabella O’Donavon, Vinny O’Donavon and drummer Dan Murphy taught the gathering crowd, ‘Double, double toil and trouble,’ as the fountain became their bubbling cauldron for, ‘Eye of newt and toe of frog.’

Cathal O’Shea from Kinsale vintage car club drove the parade’s lead car off from the park at 4pm, and the end car, to tail this year’s parade, was driven by Garret Murphy. At the head of the parade in a pied piper effect, the Ghoulish Guide was played by Fiachna O’ Braonain, who kept the young parade members entertained with witticisms and song. The drummers this year were Daniel Murphy, Debora Caldas and Rory McCarthy. 

This annual event for the children of Kinsale and the surrounding townlands is well loved, and supported in the community; businesses on the parade route come out to their doors to share sweet treats with the young trick-or-treaters, local people volunteer as stewards, and this year local farmer Mick Hemlock had no problem in loaning the décor team 10 bales of hay for the event. The 2021 Stewards were Miriam Ruckert aka Cruella de Vile, Jack Musgrave aka Shaggy and Scooby-Do, Joseph Harrington the tech skeleton, along with Tracy Keoghan, Tess Dean, Teresa Gaire, Stephen Barron, Klaus Harvey and Dermot Ryan. The local Garda Síochána as always offered a sturdy presence, ensuring the safety of the young sugar-soaked participants, with a squad car clearing the way and officers along the route to control the traffic. 

The 2021 Grand Finale was provided by the Joan Denise Moriarty school of dance run by Sharon Manning in Shandon, Cork. With choreography by her daughter Karena, their 27 dancers aged 7 to 17 kept the Kinsale crowds mesmerised with their beautiful moves and striking costumes. Sharon describes the performance as, ‘a haunting depiction of a horror movie come to life, a dance off between the Devil and an Angel who tries to rescue all the captured children, but in Halloween style it is the Devil and her army that wins in the end.’

Local businesses are supportive of this important family day on the Kinsale annual events calendar, sponsoring performers each year; the organisers wish to thank Eli Lilly, Kinsale Chamber of Business and Tourism, First South Credit Union, The Armada Bar, The Lord Kingsale, The White House, The Gourmet Pantry, Petra’s Oven, Elite Dry Cleaners, Studio 1, Mylie Murphy’s, The Market Garden, O’Connor’s Pharmacy, Pier House B&B, Supervalu, Kinari, Cllr. Marie O’Sullivan, RSVP (Red Sandstone Varied Productions) 1601 Kinsale, The Blue Haven Collection, Clare Bell, Livy Riordan, Petra’s Oven, Dennis Collins, Niamh O’Connell and Mamukko.

All of the funding for this not-for-profit event comes from donations, and there were special gifts for the best dressed participants, from Musgrave Group, Cork International Hotel, Koko's Kinsale, Cooleez, Jo’s Cafe, Kinsale Sports Store, VIVI Trading, The Flying Poet, Spar, Primm’s Bookshop and The Lemon Leaf Café. Prizes are awarded each year for best costumes, but all the attendees make a fantastic effort. 

This year’s winners were impressive. Family prizes: Best Themed Family-The Glavin Family, Riverstick; Spookiest Family – Anna and Daniel Kammerer & Carol Macnamara; The Scariest Family – The O’Riordan Family; The Funniest Family – Indra, Ryan, Liam and Kellan Roelants (Ringaskiddy) & Caroline, Alan, Cillian Toomey (Kinsale); The Most Creative Family – (Niall & Maisie, Oscar, Alice, Robin) Lennon-Rynne. The Funniest Duo: Robyn Farley & Aine Ni Chearnaigh. Individual Prizes: Best Individual Costume-Sandra Samoilenko (age 13) from Kinsale Community School spent a month creating her shaggy ink cap mushroom hat; The Scary Baby-Gwen Luna Griffin; The Cutest One-super hero toddler Mia Grady; The Best Halloween Superhero-Eva Buckley (age 11) Scoil Naoimh Elton; The Ghastliest One-Finn Buckley had a nail through his head; The Eye-catching One-Jamie Daly had his three little pumpkins in the buggy; The Original One-Vivienne O’Sullivan (age 12) Gurraneasig NS, who made herself into a pink soldier of Squid Games fame; The Villainous One-Charlie Kelleher, Belgooley NS, a very snazzy looking joker; The Creepiest One- Maeve Grennan (Summercove NS) whose open wounds were a delightfully terrible sight to behold.

Rosita Kingston and family resurrected the parade in 2005, as the tradition had lapsed for many years in Kinsale town. While Rosita retired from the committee in 2018, the organising team has gone from strength to strength with Katy Mullins and Lorraine Walsh joining Creative Director Yvonne Coughlan of rsvpireland.net this year. The committee gifted Rosita a Halloween Wreath created especially by Daisy Chain Florists to commemorate her work on the event over the years. The planning for 2022 will resume next week, as an extended festival style event is envisioned with advance workshops and additional entertainment strands for all ages, built around the central premise of a Kinsale trick-or-treating event for children.