Athy celebrates DadFest!
Jayden, Robbie and Savannah Byrne at Dad Fest in Athy Town Soccer Club Photos: Aisling Hyland
A DAY of celebration for dads of all sorts was recently organised in Athy by Kildare LEADER Partnership. The event was called DadFest and ran from 11am until 3pm at Athy Town FC’s home ground of Aldridge Park.
It was billed as ‘celebrating dads across Kildare’ and was a southern mirror to a similar event held in Leixlip the week previously.
“It is a wonderful day for all dads, grandads and uncles to connect with their children,” said Karl Duffy, the new chief executive of LEADER.
It was open to dads, and male guardians and their kids from newborns up to 12 years of age, and was the brain child of Sinead Bashir, the partnership’s educational support officer.
The day featured a wide variety of events to suit all measure of chaps, such as sensory play, drumming, wood craft, indoor sports, face painting and, curiously, a reptile zoo!
There were also a variety of support groups providing all sorts of useful information at DadFest, such as InSync Youth and Family Services, HEADSUP, HSE Men’s Health, Kildare County Childcare Committee, From Lads To Dads, Kildare Young Parents Support Project, Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme, Men’s Development Network, and Kildare Mental Health Association.
“We held it on our indoor astro and at the clubhouse,” said Seanie Bolger from Athy Town AFC.
And Aldridge Park? queried the .
“No, not the Liverpool legend as you thought, but our own legend Frankie Aldridge, who was a great player here in the Fifties, and a great servant to the club right up until his death,” explained Seanie.
With that tribute freshly ringing, perhaps it was an inspired idea to choose to have DadFest at such an august location in the town of Athy.
