Belfast Fleadh Sparks Calls To Pedestrianise City

Belfast Fleadh leaves a big question

The first-ever Belfast Fleadh has drawn to a close after a week of music, culture and dance, and the party has left the city with a question it did not expect to be asking: could a pedestrianised, more vibrant Belfast be here to stay?

It is understood that around a million visitors descended on the city for Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann.

The Fleadh began on 2 August and ran until Sunday night, technically spilling over into Monday morning as thousands refused to let it end. More than 1,300 volunteers, ranging from teenagers to pensioners, worked the streets in their distinctive yellow bucket hats and T-shirts, handing out brochures and welcoming tourists.

What the Belfast Fleadh showed the city

For many, the week offered a glimpse of a different Belfast. Volunteer Davy Taylor, who travelled from Co Derry, said the atmosphere was something to behold, and that older residents had been struck by the transformation.

"It would bring a tear to your eye, the vibrancy in the city," Taylor said. "Some of the older people have been telling me they remember Belfast when it was so dark, and this is so joyful."

Organisers have already vowed that the Fleadh will return to Belfast "bigger and better" next year, and the success has fuelled calls to pedestrianise parts of the city centre so it can hold on to that energy. It caps a growing run of major cultural moments for the city, following news of a major Belfast event earlier this summer. The mood was captured in reporting by The Journal.

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