Thousands of people will converge on Dungarvan this weekend as the West Waterford Festival of Food officially gets underway today.
This is the 14th iteration of the festival, which will run until Sunday, showcasing all the wonderful produce the county has to offer.
Organisers promise it will be bigger and better than before.
"We have an absolutely huge programme this year!", Festival Chairperson, Anita Geoghegan has been telling WLR's Big Breakfast Blaa today.
"We have events that are free and the whole town is going to be en fete, right throughout the square, out to the N25 - the whole town is going to be full.
"We have dozens of stalls, lots of amusements - fire eaters and goodness knows what! We have lots of free events and lots of dinners and foodtrails.
"Anything at all you can think of to do with food, we have it covered this weekend."
The festival first began in 2008 and since then has become synonymous with fabulous food, fantastic family events, and plenty of fun.
WLR will be broadcasting live from the West Waterford Festival of Food this Saturday (April 15th), with Timmy Ryan on duty between 1pm and 4pm.
Events will be concentrated in Dungarvan, however, other places will be involved too over the weekend.
"We're going right from Tallow, down through Lismore, Cappoquin, Dungarvan, Stradbally and down to Mount Congreve," Chairperson, Anita Geoghegan continued.
"We have events on in each of them.
"We'll have really nice breakfasts this year in Mount Congreve, which has just been reopened. Back up to Stradbally, we'll have lovely afternoon teas going on there.
"Another very nice afternoon tea will be held in Lismore and then we have six foodtrails this year, extending out to Ring, Ardmore, Blackwater Valley and out to Tallow."
Road Closures
A number of road closures will be in place in Dungarvan for the duration of the festival.
The following roads will be closed by the council:
Davitt's Quay (from it's junctoin with Bridge Street to Harbour Street)
Carberry's Lane
Galwey's Lane
Thompson's Lane
No parking will be allowed on Davitt’s Quay during the road closures.
Access to the Garvey’s Supervalu Car Park on Davitt’s Quay shall be maintained via entrance on Cross Bridge Street, with all vehicles exiting via Bridge Street.
On Saturday, the following traffic restrictions will also be in place:
All traffic from The Lookout Road will be diverted via Quay Street to Church Street and onto Emmet Street.
All traffic travelling from TF Meagher Street will be diverted onto the L3139 (North or South).
There will be no access to eastbound traffic to The Causeway for the duration of the festival.
Westbound traffic will not be effected, except for a 30 minute period during the RNLI Duck Race, when the road will have to close.
From 6am until 9pm on Sunday, the following roads will also be closed:
Grattan Square
St Mary's Street
TF Meagher Street
Parnell Street
O'Connell Street (from its junction with R911 and Western Terrace)
Crossbridge Street
Galwey's Lane
Full details of all the West Waterford Festival of Food can be found on their website, here.
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