Discussions on new Newry City Festival nostalgically recall the Canal Festival

Plans for a standalone council led Newry City Festival were discussed last night, 19 January, at the January meeting of Newry, Mourne and Down District Council's Economy, Regeneration and Tourism committee with fond memories of the former Newry Canal Festival recalled. It follows on from a council motion proposed by Newry City Councillor Doire Finn and seconded by Councillor Killian Feehan at the November 2025 full council meeting. At that meeting the motion was referred to the ERT committee where last night it was referred to the council's newly formed Arts Working Group.

The Motion

"Newry, Mourne and Down District Council commends the work and success of Eats and Beats, Footsteps in the Forest and Wake the Giant and agree to commencing work towards a festival for Newry City."

Speaking of her motion Cllr Finn said: "The idea for this motion was born from recognition that Newry has so much untapped potential. I've said it time and time again that our city could be absolutely incredible, and while I love and support the events such as Footsteps in the Forest and Eats and Beats and know the value that they bring to their respective communities, it's certainly clear that the offering for Newry pales in comparison.

Cllr Finn spoke of the "modestly funded" Fireside Stories event held last year which took the place of the standalone Newry Arts Festival, and pointed out that she wasn't happy that the event was "diluted across the district" as it was also held in Newcastle and Downpatrick!

"As this committee will well know, Newry is the city within our district, and I am passionate about ensuring that it is treated as such. We must, as a council, work towards initiatives that not only strengthen our vital business community, but provide opportunity for residents and visitors to see our beautiful city in the best light possible." she said.

Cllr Finn continued "We have venues that can be used, such as the Albert Basin site, soon to be our city park, as well as covered market space, which last year, hosted our city's first ever Christmas market. We have a canal that should and could be the envy of other cities, and I hope that there will be opportunity to work with the council's newly formed Canal Regeneration Group as part of this work.

"Newry is, as I've said, a beautiful city. It's situated between the Cooley and Mourne mountains, and we are brimming with talented artists and musicians, as well as ambitious people who want to see our city thrive."

Last night's meeting deferred the discussion of the festival to the Arts Working Group of which Cllr Finn is the Chairperson. She also asked her motion to include the targeted timeline of bringing a paper back to the ERT committee within six months.

Cllr Finn concluded "I'm proud to have brought this motion forward to Council this evening, seconded by my constituency colleague, Councillor Killian Feehan, with whom I am dedicated to bringing back life to a city that we both know needs regeneration and deserves to thrive."

Also speaking on the festival motion Cllr Helena Young nostalgically recalled the days of the Newry Canal Festival: "There are some of us in this chamber that may be, I use the word 'mature' enough to remember the Newry Canal Festivals that we had, they ran from 1975 to 1994 and I can remember every single one of them. The festival would be opened with a parade, and that would come from the Albert Basin down into Hill Street and Margaret Square and several celebrities officially opened the festival over the years including our very own Pat Jennings, George Best and Jackie Fullerton."

Explaining the goings-on at the event Cllr Young said: "The festival consisted of sporting events, including swimming galas, a strong man competition, angling competition and clay pigeon shooting. Social events included children's talent competition, Little Miss Newry, the Bonnie Baby competition, and there were several arts exhibitions held over the week in Newry Town Hall and the art centre."

She continued "But the absolute pinnacle of the festival was the bathtub race on Newry Canal. With not a care for health and safety, competitors would build their own rafts and row up the canal, more often than not ending up in the water than on the rafts and I can see people smiling at the memory of that. In the years that it ran Newry Canal Festival, created many lasting memories. It was really family focused, and it created such a great atmosphere in the town and it would be great to see something similar happening again, possibly not over a week but a shorter period of time."

Cllr Young concluded "We've had a lot of really fantastic things going on in Newry. We've got the Iúr Cinn Fleadh, we've got the Nashville in Newry that happened last year but I think that we haven't specifically had something primarily for families, to include events and things that families can get involved in. So as part of the Arts Working Group, I'd be really excited to work with my colleagues on this."

On a point of order at the ERT meeting it was pointed out that Cllr Finn couldn't propose a motion as she wasn't a member of that committee so on agreement Cllr Feehan proposed the motion and Cllr Terry Andrews seconded it.

Just like the notion that a bus doesn't turn up and then two come at once, a separate agenda item was discussed at last nights ERT meeting - a Newry City Music Festival. Check Newry.ie out tomorrow for our report on that.