All of the best festivals in Ireland share a common attribute. In the immortal words of Goethe, a carnival “is a festival that really is not given to the people, but one the people give themselves.”
When it comes to carnivals and festivals, the good folk of Ballydehob give unto themselves, copiously. In the immortal words of the man sitting at the bar in Levis pub, “If a cat had kittens, Ballydehob would put on a festival”.
Which means that you want to be there on the first weekend in May to catch the goings on as the town descends into carnival crazyness, all happening around the annual Ballydehob Jazz Festival (as opposed to the Trad Festival, the Samhain Parade, the Paddy’s Day Parade, the Summer Festival, the Country Music Festival and, of course, the Festival of the Birth of the Kittens.)
The BJF is the bomb, three days of monster fun, but before you go, make sure to have a booking for Robbie and Elaine’s new upstairs small plates offering at Restaurant Chestnut, which is a new addition to his acclaimed tasting menu in the restaurant, and is currently served from 6pm Wed-Sat, and on Sunday afternoon in the front bar. Rob is cooking some ace new ideas: cold-smoked haddock with grapefruit; brandade with yuzu; wild venison loin with chimichurri; ham with pickled cucumbers; crispy chicken thighs with sriracha; doughnuts with lemon curd and bee pollen.
There will be gigs all around the village over the weekend, but do make sure to get a seat on one of the benches for the gigs in Levis pub. Joe and Caroline run what is recognised by all right-thinking people as one of the greatest pubs in the world, and gigs in here are like no others.