Tradition revived by the Celtic Tiger at carnival

It's midnight in Loughglynn, and the place is hopping. Creaton's and Duffy's, the Roscommon village's two pubs, are packed, with droves roving between them. At one end techno music is pumping up the adrenaline, while at the other about 800 people watch would-be carnival queens strut their stuff with Paul Claffey of Mid-West Radio in a huge marquee. Saturday night fever meets the Celtic Tiger, and Loughglynn's Carnival 2000 is the venue.

Gerry Keane sits against a windowsill surveying all he has helped muster. Chairman of the 10-member committee that revived the village carnival in 1998 and 1999, he is carnival PRO this year.

A woman passes by carrying a tray of sandwiches. "Ya fecking bitch. You have my heart broke," he greets her. The "bitch" smiles sweetly and continues on her way assuming a could-have-been-worse expression. It is not difficult to believe Gerry when he says: "The committee is a volatile one . . . all people who call a spade a spade." Of such heat has the revived Loughglynn Carnival been born.

A previous incarnation died in 1973, after a long illness. In 1997 some of the village's 200 souls felt it would be a good idea to attempt a one-off 25th anniversary revival "for a bit of craic".

The 1998 carnival was a big success, a highlight of the north Roscommon year. As it was again last year. And this year.

It ended last night. In its first two years alone, it raised £20,000 for the local community centre.

It goes on all hours. Last year Brendan Shine stopped only when the plug was pulled, literally, at 3.15 a.m. There were 1,100 there that night, aged 18 to 80-plus.

There's a bar in the marquee until 2.30 a.m., with pints at £2.20 a go. Sure where else would you be going? And all at no cost. Twenty-five volunteer stewards supervise things until 6 a.m. and sponsorship is predominantly local, with generous input from the Garda, Mid-West Radio and Shannonside Radio. Gerry Keane is so grateful he would embarrass Barry McGuigan. And all for Loughglynn.

But that fatalism natural to Roscommon people means the very success of the carnival is itself becoming a worry now. "Are we tempting fate? Will we do it again? Will people get tired?" wonders Gerry.

Luckily, however, others see success and ask: "Why not?" Such has been the spirit of Loughglynn.