Linda O'Reilly checks Donal Keogan for stubble.

A kiss without a beard is like soup without salt... or so my mother used to say. If she really believes that she’ll be pleased with the hairy chins on the publicans in Cavan town over the next few weeks! That’s because in the Meadow View on Tuesday night of last week, they promised not to shave for a month to help raise funds for Cavan Summer Festival and International Hen Weekend 2011.

The first festival last June brought an energy and vibrancy to Cavan town, as well as welcome revenue from the thousands of people who visited to enjoy the weekend fun.

The festival is coming back again, this June 16–19, alongside the International Hen Weekend on June 17–19. Events on that scale cost a great deal to run, every cent of which the organisers have to find. Fundraising is a difficult task in the best of times and these are not the best of times, so the committee members are putting their shoulders to the wheel to ensure that they can build on last year’s success.

If you’re in town over the next few weeks, and the man behind the bar in your local is looking a bit Grizzly Adams, it’s not that you’ve missed out on the latest trend, it’s all in the name of the Big Shave on March 4.

The clean-chin brigade won’t escape either; they’ll be bracing themselves for pain and the Big Wax on the same night. You might see grown men cry and hear shrieks of pain... and that’s even before the wax comes out!

The publicans are in, and the organisers are also asking the other business people to take part, as the festival benefits the whole town.

It will be a great night of entertainment and they ask people to support in whatever way they can.

If that all sounds too painful, there is another, completely different, event, a Candlelit Evening in the grounds of the Old Abbey on February 11 at 7.30pm.

This is a simple concept: an evening of remembrance. Candles are €2 and cards are in almost all business premises in Cavan town.

You write the name of the person you wish to remember and the organisers will light a candle for that person with their name on the night. There will be music, hot chocolate and marshmallows for a fundraiser being run in association with Living Links, Cavan. It is planned as a nice evening to think of someone no longer with us but still here in spirit. Contact Siobhan Neary at The Breffni Inn to find out more.

Another date for your diary is May 6, for the Big Race Night in The Orchard Bar... there’s plenty to keep the town entertained between now and the festival in June.