Answering Cavan’s Call

One of the main aspects of the Cavan Calling festival was to strengthen ties between the county and its diaspora around the world. Two of the more high-profile exports of the Breffni County, who answered the call, were Thomas Colbert, brother of Stephen Colbert host of ‘The Late Show’ on CBS in the US and Erica Fee, CEO, of the annual Rochester Fringe Festival.

Tom Colbert travelled with a large delegation of his extended family to the Cavan Calling festival. He wasn’t very difficult to pick out in a crowd, given his resemblance to his brother Stephen. Tom said that the Cavan connection his very much alive in his family.

“My mother’s father was a Tuck. His father, Andrew Edward Tuck was born in 1833 in Cavan. Knowing where we came from is extremely important to us. Our parents were very much into knowing our family history, especially my mother, who came from the Fee family. We heard all about the family as children. We have a lot of Irish names in the family such as McMahon and O’Neills. We were very interested in coming here for the diaspora.”

Earlier this year, when Cavan Calling tweeted a message about Stephen’s Cavan lineage, he retweeted it, seemingly surprised by the revelation saying: “I had no idea! Thanks for calling, Cavan. #cavancalling”.

However, Tom clarified this was done by a member of his social media team and Stephen is very much aware of his roots.

“My brother is very knowledgeable about our family history. He did a TV show exploring his genealogy. We thought we were mostly Irish with a bit of French, and it showed he was 94% Irish, with not a speck of French in us.”

While Stephen may not have plans to come to Ireland just yet, Tom says it could be on the cards in the future.

“He’s an extremely busy guy. When he takes vacations, he likes to spend time with his family, but we’re trying to get him to come to Ireland.”

The Rochester Fringe Festival, meanwhile, is one of the biggest performing arts festivals in New York. It takes place in Monroe County, with which Cavan is twinned.

Erica Fee, whose great great great grandparents come from outside Cootehill, was making her first trip to Cavan but had already heard about the county’s reputation for financial prudency.

“Its name as a tight county preceeds it. When I lived in London, I heard about it. The taxi driver from Dublin Airport to here told me about it and, in all of my talks with the local people, they have told me about the reputation.”

Joking aside, she says her family roots have always interested her.

“I was at a genealogy conference yesterday and was surprised to see details that my late grandfather had supplied to Cavan about 25 years ago. He was an amateur genealogist, and I always enjoyed talking about it with him. I recently found his letters to Cavan Geneology where he was trying to find out about his roots, but now that all the records are online it’s easier to find out.”

Rochester has a big Irish influence and a special connection with Cavan, as Erica explains

“The American Civil War hero, Colonel Patrick O Rorke was born in Cavan, before emigrating to America. He fought in the Civil War for the Union Army and was killed at the Battle of Gettysburg, and has a bridge named after him there.”

Cavan Calling came across her radar during a visit from a Cavan delegation to the Rochester Fringe Festival last year during which Tommy Ryan, chief executive of Cavan County Council, got the opportunity to promote Cavan Calling.

“He spoke of the ties between us, so afterward the two counties signed a declaration of to engage in cultural and artistic exchange. As a result, the Fanzinis, a Cavan-based theatre group will attend the Rochester Fringe Festival; while Bushwhacked, an improv group from Rochester, will be here at Cavan Calling,” revealed Erica of the exchange.

Despite the differences between the two festivals, Erica says they share a lot of common ground.

“Connections are still forming, and there is a great hunger for international exchange. The headaches of organising a festival are also still the same wherever you go.”

She also said that local festivals have countless benefits, as a “platform” for both those taking part and the areas in which they are held.

“We’ve realised the importance of these festivals as community-building events. There have been studies that show events like these can increase the self-esteem of a community and even lower community blood pressure rates, as well as have a big economic impact.”

While there may be a tendency to look towards large urban centres when it comes to hosting high-calibre events, Erica says that smaller areas can be just as successful.

“They also work out better in a smaller community, because it is genuinely excited about it. Events in bigger cities are less successful because they can get lost among everything else there is to do there.”