Why not a festival on Kennedy Place?

Dear sir- I am a native of Wexford and living in Navan almost 20 years now, and I read with interest in the Irish Independent that “the full line-up for this year’s hotly anticipated Wexford Spiegeltent Festival has now been revealed”.

When Kennedy Plaza in Navan was being done up it was sold to us as being a civic area where shows and things would be put on.

The Spiegeltent Festival came one year, I remember going in every evening, if we weren’t going to a show, just to walk around the town there was a lovely feeling because so many people were around.

I remember speaking to Paddy Fitzsimons, who was delighted with all the people coming in for pints, and himself and his wife were sometimes going to two shows a day!

However as great as this was for the town, it never came back, from what I can recall, because it was taking up the car park.

Not only did the Spiegeltent not return, nothing ever happened in Kennedy Place again, why not?

It seems such a shame, particularly in the current climate, a festival like that coming to town would give a much needed boost to the local economy.

It would attract people from all over, not just Navan to the town. Is there something that could be done to try to get such a festival up and running again?

The town needs more than a car park.

Yours,

Jane Mallon,

Navan.