Muff Fair - where individuality, nature and community shine through

Sinéad Hogan
sinead.hogan@anglocelt.ie

Horses weaving in and out between cars slow the queue for the carpark, but this is no time, nor place, for rushing and rat-racing anyway.
The lane up to the barn, where dancing is done and refreshments are had, is lined on both sides with stalls. Leather boots, plants, balls of wool and children’s toys are among the items on offer.
A man of around 70 perhaps is sitting in a chair in front of a stall with Persian-style rugs. He silently makes a sign of the cross, apparently offering up whatever is in his heart this on this sunny start to Muff Fair Day.
As I stand by a ditch, I meet a man from Castleblayney, who hasn’t been to the fair in quite a few years, but after a friend’s prompting, he was happy to come along. “It’s a good day out,” he says, “and you never know what you’d get.” Today, he has his eye on an axle-grinder.

Character
Outside the barn, there’s a man from Meath, sitting on a bench enjoying a plastic cup of Guinness, while his mutt stretches out at his feet, content to have the sun warm his furry coat.
Looking out under the rim of his cowboy hat, and interrupting himself to light a cigarette, he’s been coming to the fair every year, he says, since he was a “young fellow” - maybe six or seven decades ago, I estimate.
“Have you seen the gents here?” he asks, before telling me they’re “state-of-the-art, self-cleaning ones”, ie no roof.
“When the dancing starts, there’ll be lots of teenage girls - in their seventies,” he tells me, “and ould boys whose mammies are 100 now and don’t wash their shirts anymore.”
The conversation moves on to the village idiot and a tradition of “charging him up” with drink at fair days, and within a few minutes a solo stretch seems like a good idea.
A large percentage of people at the fair have fancy-looking cameras with big lenses around their necks.
Colleague Alex Coleman says events such as these are favourites with photography enthusiasts and there’s an entire camera club having an outing here today.
You can see the attraction, and it goes beyond the kids and the animals - there are old men here with character engraved into every facial line.

Natural
Muff Fair is a place of visible individuality, of nature, of raw connections with life, a long way from the sameness of things and people in the cities.
As I wander back through the stalls to the crossroads, where the animal trading is the focal point, the heavens open and the lack of umbrellas for sale is felt.
“I don’t like the look of this,” says someone pulling a canopy out from a chip-van, but the rain doesn’t last.
A family of spectators, who have come from Belturbet for the day, explain how fair days are a cultural tradition.
Jim Magennis has been coming to Muff Fair for a long time and he’s here with his wife, Jacqueline, and daughter, Jackie Anne.
“It’s nice to get out and about and meet people, who are here from all over Ireland, and England as a matter of fact. You meet people here every year from maybe Limerick, Galway and different parts of the country,” says Jim.

Community
“Friendships are formed and there’s a bit of banter. It’s not all about buying or selling. There’s a lot of people here who aren’t interested in buying or selling anything. You can come and admire nice horses and talk about your own, and it’s the spectacle.
“It’s mostly horses that are traded, but also goats, chickens, donkeys... Jim tells me that prices today are ranging from about €100 to €1,200.
“People show their wares and if you’re interested you bid on them, and if not, you walk on. You’ll see haggling going on, people offering a lot less than is being asked,” he says.
Jacqueline concurs: “It’s just a lovely day out.”
“It’s nice to meet people and you see something different every time. “It’s part of the scene, the culture. A lot of people come here for the day out, just to support it and keep it going. It’s the same thing at fairs everywhere.” says Jim, prompting thoughts that it’s not policy-makers in Dublin who we have to thank for the longevity of fair days such as Muff’s.
Jim agrees: “Communities keep them going.”