Bucking the Trend! - Newry Does Nashville A Massive Rootin-Tootin Success

Enjoying Nan Rices at Newry Does Nashville. Photograph: Columba O'Hare/ Newry.ie

The very first Newry Does Nashville festival has been an incredible knee-slappin', foot-stompin, rootin-tootin, honky-tonk success, and a credit to the organisers who thought up the concept to help put our city back on the map for events and nightlife.

Running from Friday 4 to Sunday 6 July it was every bit as much celebrating independents day as Independence, championing as it did locally owned and run venues! The brainchild of Gary Meehan from The Phoenix bar and Ross McArdle from Nan Rices, most of Newry's hostelries bought into the idea and with support from Newry BID the festival was born.

Having a go on the Buckin Bronco at The Phoenix. Photograph: Columba O'Hare/ Newry.ie — Having a go on the Buckin Bronco at The Phoenix.
Photograph: Columba O'Hare/ Newry.ie

Venues were much busier than usual all weekend with songs about love and heartbreak and dogs that died in horrific tragedies wafting from every bar. One establishment even ran out of drink but the emergency was short lived when new supplies were sourced. It wasn't just all about the bars though. Events were held in the shopping centres and cafes and Cycling Saddles saw young and old take to the bikes on a fun spin around the city peddling to country classics.

The Phoenix Bar's initiative of closing off Margaret Street and reclaiming it for people to sit outside was a resounding success with hundreds coming and going over the weekend. While the weather didn't always co-operate, when the sun did shine, you could have closed your eyes, felt the heat and for a brief minute imagined that you were sitting outside a honky tonk bar in downtown Nashville. Another addition at The Phoenix was a bucking bronco and with a few pints on board there was no shortage of volunteers though many a rider fell off before they even got on! Of course there was also the fiercely competitive type too who held on as if their life depended on it!

The weekend's activities showed what can be done when competing venues co-operate. Listening to both the publicans and the public, it seems that it could well become an annual event - Roll on 2026!