It's all over now

Yesterday saw the Dethronement of the King of Puck. The wild mountain goat isn't, as I'd hoped, curried and served to the thousands of hung-over revellers, but taken down from his eyrie and released back into the wild, confused but well-fed and neatly groomed. For the revellers, as one put it, if it were raining today as well as being the day after Puck, we'd be reaching for the antidepressants.

At the same time, the honorary Lord Mayorship is conferred on the candidate who raised most money for charity. The winner this year was one Paudie Cronin, standing on the outrageously plagiarised 'Yes We Can Again' slogan.

As you can see, he's a man who carries a lot of weight in this town.

A very few more here.

Floss Regularly!

I wandered about taking pictures of the Puck Fair Fancy Dress and Pet Show events - they're here but they're mostly of kids and dogs so you may not be entirely enthralled.

These are my favourites:

I Want To See The Bright Lights

(Sorry, Richard Thompson reference there). A few more from Puck Fair by night. Rest here, click on these for big versions.

There's something of the abbatoir about these monkeys

Guitarist from The Walls (ex-The Stunning)

Fair enough

More day-glo and neon. Click for full-size, go here for more.

The picture to the right makes this quite threatening

These two demanded I take their picture while their older sister warned them I might be a paedophile…

Video feed from the capsule of a frankly insane bungee/cage ride

I think Elvis would have liked this

All the fun of the fair

I love funfairs. I won't go on any of the rides, except the dodgems - and that's probably because I can't drive anything else. An American told me yesterday that over there, the object is to avoid all the other cars. Say it ain't so? What a waste of time.

But I digress. What do I love about fairs? The neon, gaudy colours, airbrush painting, flashing lights, competing sound systems, over-excited kids, the slight air of disreputability, candy floss and onions and doughnuts fighting for olfactory dominance: all these things come to mind, the Ferris wheel scene in The Third Man, plus the wonderful, terrifying seaside fair scenes in Brighton Rock (books or films).

So I went out with my camera last night. We wandered through Bird's Euroshow Fair, then caught a set by The Walls, formerly The Stunning, whose biggest hit was the sublime 'Brewing Up A Storm'. All the pictures are here, but these are some favourites (click on them for larger images).

How's this for shameless opportunism?

How much is that doggie in the window?

More Obama plagiarism

We moved through the fair…

The Cross River Band - top quality trad folk and bluegrass

…and a young fan

We also saw Dr. Fox's Old-Timey String Band - very impressive, check out their cover of MGMT's 'Kids' -  and a host of street performers and Spraoi Ciarraí (Kerry story-tellers).

(click on the photos for bigger versions and find more here). 

Tonight it's another wander through the town, this time with my camera to catch the neon glowing in the twilight at the funfair (theme tune: Cara Dillon's version of 'She Moved Through The Fair').

Kerry's Got Talent

More from Puck Fair's Cattle Market and Bonny Baby events.

Click on them to enlarge or see more here.

Pucker Up

Last night was the social side of Puck - streets heaving as everyone strolled from pub to pub, live music on every corner and in every back room.

Today was the serious competition: the Bonny Baby event and the cattle market (insert your own joke here or see more shots here).

From a Republican stall's van, also featuring 'IRA: Undefeated and Unbowed'.

Pondering the Bonny Baby odds

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