THE post-Covid return of Limerick Riverfest over the May bank holiday weekend cost the city more than €355,000.
That’s according to figures supplied at the request of City West Social Democrats Councillor Elisa O’Donovan who says she will also be looking for a separate breakdown of costs for the ‘Party in the Park’ which featured on the Riverfest programme.
The bill includes staging events such as the fireworks display, the Party in the Park and the Shannon zipline, entertainments, water events, publicly and advertising as well as managing the festival.
There were costs for staging a four-week multi-media campaign to publicise the festival, along with creating a weekend guide for festival goers.
VAT at 23 per cent accounted for almost €68,000 of the overall bill.
Council management said that Riverfest is “an opportunity to showcase Limerick’s energy, excitement, grit and limitless possibilities,” to a massive audience.
In her Tweet about the costs, Cllr O’Donovan said “I will caveat this by saying, I love Riverfest, it is my favourite weekend of the year in Limerick and I am its biggest advocate. However, I think we can and should do much better next year. I will be following this question up with a request for more detailed figures for council members”
The festival, which has become one of the biggest family festival attractions in the country aimed to welcome more than 100,000 people over the May bank holiday weekend.
