Easter celebration a huge success for Cashel Community Event group
Cashel community event group, Le Chéile Cashel community event group, Le Chéile Caiseal, added to its burgeoning reputation last weekend when they held another well supported fun event in the town, with almost two hundred children coming out to enjoy an Easter Egg Treasure hunt. The group was formed last year and has already run a number of successful events, starting with the Screamland Halloween experience and then following that up with a very successful Christmas market.
Longer term they plan to organise events not just for children and younger people, but for people of all ages in town, with some other events already in the pipeline this year.
A group spokeperson said that the purpose of the group was to bring back a sense of fun to the town, by giving people something to do and to enjoy, but also giving people who volunteered something to get involved in. Part of the reason for the group is to provide a social outlet while encouraging people to get creative, and so far, they have done that in spades.
It also has a beneficial effect of the businesses of the town, with each event bringing extra people into Cashel, where they can also shop in the local businesses and boost the town commercially. This was evident on Saturday, with people travelling from as far away as Co. Laois to take part. The group also received some donations on the day from tourists who saw the festivities and wanted to help out.
As for the Easter Egg Hunt itself, the children taking part began to arrive at the Plaza in Cashel well before the event was due to begin at 2pm. And while they were there, they were able to enjoy a performance by the Cashel Brass Band, who entertained people with a medley of old favourites and a number of more modern songs that had the crowds bopping while they waited. At one stage, the star of the Easter Egg Hunt, the Easter Bunny took a whirl at conducting the band and the crowd were very appreciative of his efforts.
The hunt itself kept it simple, with the target audience being primary school aged children and younger. The participants ranged from three years of age to twelve, along with Mammies, Daddies and Grandparents to bring them along the way.
At the beginning of the hunt, they collected a map and a set of clues, and from there headed away on a loop around the northern side of the town. Safety was the watchword of the day, and the whole event took part without having to cross the Main Street, something many parents commented upon positively. Then along the route, the children had to meet Le Chéile volunteers, who handed them a task to complete, a maze, a puzzle and other various little riddles. Once these were solved, they moved on to the next station.
The route began at the Plaza, and took in the Main Street, the new public walkway at the back of the Courthouse (where the group ran the successful Screamland event), through the Palace Car Park, along the Bishops Walk, down by the Rock of Cashel, along Dominic Street, before finishing back once again on the Plaza. Overall, it took about an hour, giving both kids and parents some exercise out in the fresh air, and also showed off a walk that isn’t used enough, something many of the parents said afterwards. So hopefully that will be another good thing to come from the event.
Once back at the Plaza the kids produced their completed puzzles, and got their prize, a chocolate Easter Egg for everyone who took part. This was given to them by the aforementioned Easter Bunny and many took pictures to remind themselves of the fun they had on the day.
Also at the Plaza were face painters from the Mitchelstown Youth Project a group with a strong connection to the Cashel event group, and music to have both adults and children bopping along. The new Plaza in Cashel lends itself perfectly to events like this, and the organisers were very complimentary of the county council for the recent job done on the Plaza, especially the new seating, which also acts as a natural safety barrier against running out onto the busy Main Street.
All in all the day was another great success for the Cashel group. But they are determined not to stand still and are already gearing up for their next community project, with a second rendition of Screamland in planning.
The groups hope will be that this year, it will be bigger and better and they have certainly set themselves a high bar to get over after the success of last years event.
To help with that, they will hopefully get some sponsorship from the local community and business people, as the long term vision of the group is to create a Halloween festival in Cashel that will match any around the country.
Given their creativity and determination so far, they are already on the way to achieving that. For now, they’re happy to put a smile on the faces of the children of Cashel, and maybe the Easter Bunny might make another visit to the town in the future.
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