The age-old Puck Fair overcame threats from foot-and-mouth disease and got off to a good start yesterday. Hour-long traffic tail-backs into Killorglin, Co Kerry, were evidence of a good attendance at the annual festival.
For a while it seemed as if the foot-and-mouth disease precautions would halt the fair but a compromise was reached. The wild goat would be blood-tested once captured, quarantined immediately and kept in isolation for three weeks after the fair ends tomorrow.
The responsibility for this has fallen to local farmer and goatcatcher for the past 10 years, Mr Frank Joy. With a sheepdog and a team of neighbours Mr Joy scoured the Glenbeigh mountains for up to five weeks before the fair looking for a suitable animal.
The goat must be agile, fit and healthy, a representative of its species, good enough to be crowned King Puck and to reign over the fair for three days.
Thousands of visitors streamed into the town for last night's crowning ceremony. Estimates suggest that when the fair ends more than 100,000 will have visited Killorglin, spending at least £2 million.
This is particularly welcome in a tourist season affected by the foot-and-mouth scare.
It is over 20 years since the fair decided to ban the all-night drinking for which it was once notorious. Once the pubs remained open for 72 hours but now bar extensions apply only until 3 a.m. "Sure every pub in the country stays open now until that hour," said Mr Falvey, who runs one of the 27 public houses in Killorglin.
Catching the goat, said Mr Joy, isn't as difficult as it used to be because the trained sheepdog is alert to its every move. "He saves us a lot of running. When we close in on the goat, he makes for a gap in the mountains but the dog is able to block him before he gets through. That's a great help," he added.
But is the goat happy? "He'll be sad to leave us again for the mountains. We're feeding him green oats, ivy and luscious leaves. It's like gourmet cooking for him," said Mr Joy.