There is a point on the Wednesday evening before Blas na hÉireann when Gráinne Kavanagh notices Dingle beginning to change, as finalists and buyers start arriving and familiar faces appear at the door of The Coach House, the Irish craft and design shop she has run for more than a decade.
“Blas brings a different dynamic to Dingle,” she says. “This arrival is for their harvest festival of sorts. The producers have toiled hard all year to bring their products to market, many have developed new products, others have expanded on previous ranges and this is their chance to meet and celebrate with their peers.”
By Thursday, producers are calling in to tell Kavanagh what they hope the weekend might bring, with some returning later with good news to share. “It’s lovely to see them return over the weekend with big smiles after their wins or products being picked up by buyers,” she says.
For businesses around Dingle, Blas also brings a welcome lift just as the pace would normally be beginning to ease. Finn Mac Donnell, the fourth generation of his family to run Dick Mack’s pub, where he has been for almost 19 years, says the difference is considerable.
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“If you didn’t have anything on, it would be a dud weekend,” he says, explaining that the pub might have four people working on an ordinary Friday at that time of year, compared with around 10 or 11 for Blas. “It’d be in our top four or five of the year, definitely.”
Being opposite the Blas marquee has made Dick Mack’s something of an unofficial headquarters, although Mac Donnell has a practical explanation for its popularity.
“They don’t have far to walk to get here, and they don’t have far to roll back out if they need to,” he laughs. “And we’ll have the fire on for them if we do have a cold wintry day.”
Staffing the weekend involves persuading some of the pub’s part-time crew, many now back at college, to return to work when they might prefer to be enjoying it themselves. The producers, meanwhile, have reached the end of a long year and are ready to celebrate.
“They’re meeting like-minded people,” says Mac Donnell. “They’re able to talk work and then, by nine o’clock at night, they forget about work and enjoy a weekend away from work and home.”
For Róisín Uí Lúing, who runs Siopa Uí Lúing in Ventry, Blas offers something else. Her involvement began with blind-tasting judging and later included a panel discussion at BackYard, the programme of talks and events that runs alongside the awards, while the sight of the Blas village being built now signals that the weekend is almost here.
“Living in west Kerry means we are geographically far from lots of places around the country, so the Blas weekend is an amazing time to meet our producers and touch base,” she says.
Some are people whose produce Uí Lúing has stocked for years without meeting them in person, while Blas has also led to tasty new finds for the shop’s shelves. “We have definitely discovered new products at Blas over the years and we are always seeking to work with new Irish producers.”
Those connections are not confined to organised events. “Whether you’re in the Blas tent or grabbing a coffee in Bean across the way, you’ll be surrounded by people from various aspects of the food and drink industry.”
Justin Burgess co-owns Bean in Dingle with his brother Luke; the pair also run Dingle Coffee Roasters just outside the town. Having the main Blas area opposite the cafe means Burgess gets a particularly good view of proceedings, including one memorable moment last year when the cafe was full of producers and one received a call for a live radio interview, just as Neven Maguire walked in for a coffee and congratulated them on air.
Blas also took Burgess beyond the coffee shop last year, with two podcast interviews and an appearance on Newstalk, although the latter required a little Dutch courage. “I was so nervous I had to have a quick shot of whiskey at 12 o’clock,” he admits.
When so many people from the food and drink industry arrive, Burgess says local businesses want to show what Dingle can do, helped by the close-knit nature of the town.
“Most of the businesses in Dingle are run by families,” he says. “Everybody knows each other.”
Some producers also use the weekend to get ahead on their Christmas shopping before their own busy festive season begins.
Kavanagh describes the economic benefit to Dingle as “huge”, spreading well beyond accommodation and food, while Uí Lúing believes the timing matters too.
“It’s a lovely boost when everyone in the hospitality industry is ready for the last hurrah before winter kicks in,” she says.
Mac Donnell is quick to point to the people behind the scenes too.
“The volunteers are brilliant in Dingle, people that volunteer their time to help on any given big weekend like that. They really are important.”
For Kavanagh, perhaps the best measure of what Blas has become is the familiarity of those annual returns, when producers walk back through the door and simply pick up where they left off.
“We catch up on both how business has been and, more importantly, how their families have been since we met.”
