Sunday 9th August, Butterfield Estate, Tullamore. Temperatures in the early to mid twenties and visitor numbers projected to hit 65,000, it felt like that and more throughout the day. As always the horticulture tent drew the crowds, with plenty of peeking through the shutters while judging was in progress. The doors opened shortly after 1pm, to a rush of attendees eager to view the show pieces. 

The horticulture committee, headed up by John O’Donoghue had between 900 and 1000 entries overall to compete in 144 categories – Vegetables, Honey, Cereals and other flowers and arrangements. With Dahlias represented only a portion of the overall entries. 

This is our 18th year sponsoring the Dahlia section, and it never disappoints. The care, attention and effort that goes into selecting the right stem, while snipping off any other pretenders, and then to have them opened to perfection – precisely for the 2nd Sunday in August is Herculean. Local man Pat Maguire from Milltownpass proved his mettle in the novice section. Meanwhile Trevor Stevenson from Shankhill in Dublin was the overall Dahlia section winner.