Day 12. Mr Whippy and the Pirate Queen

May 29
Westport, Ireland

While in Westport, we got to attend the third annual Pirate Queen Festival, sponsored by the makers of Grainne Ale, and hosted by Gracy’s Bar.

The Grainne Ale Festival was a family friendly event with lots of children in attendance. Unfortunately it was pouring down rain so all the families were crowded into the covered patio at Gracy’s Bar. Along with all the families, was a band playing some sort of jazzy rock music. The music was good, but oh, so loud! We almost left, because there was nowhere to sit and conversation was made difficult by the volume of the music but, we retreated to a sheltered space away from the festival, and checking the schedule and the current time, figured that the band was already on overtime and would surely be quitting soon. I guessed that when the band left that some of the crowd would go as well. Turned out, I was right soon we had a pint of Grainne Ale and some good food and a place at one of the long tables. the woman sitting across from me asked where we were from, we replied “Oregon”. She quipped, “So, you brought the weather with you.” I am accustomed to hearing this from Californians, but had to laugh at hearing it from a resident of a place that receives far more rain than Portland does.

The departure of the aforementioned band was not the end of the festival entertainment. The final act was billed as Mr Whippy! Mr Whippy is a decommissioned ice cream truck that now houses a D.J. and his sound equipment. It was parked alongside the patio and connected to the bar’s sound system. As the band began to pack up, Mr Whippy began to play. He started with some Reggae, then played his theme song, a snappy tune with with indecipherable lyrics about Mr Whippy. He then moved on to some electronica.We had another pint, a Clew Bay Sunset Ale this time, and pulled on our rain gear for the walk back to our charming temporary abode.