Waterford's Harvest Fest attracted 55,000 visitors and was its most successful year yet

Last months’ annual Harvest Festival attracted a record number of visitors, with 55,000 people flocking to Waterford city across the festival weekend, a 22 per cent increase on 2023.

According to the recently released Close Out report of the festival, there were over 50 events held throughout the weekend, with 45 vendors dispersed throughout the city, 35 per cent of which were local.

The festival received 140 vendor applications in total and everyone from Waterford who applied on time was offered a stand.

The festival had an overall PR and marketing reach of 20 million, with over 22,500 visitors attracted to the festival website, which was launched for the first time this year.

The report outlined that the Ballybeg Greens Festival Garden was a huge success this year and the festival Food Market attracted record numbers.

The Applemarket Wammapolloza also proved extremely popular, with show frequency switched to every 30 minutes instead of every hour, to accommodate large crowds.

The summary said that there was one anti-social incident over the weekend that required a call to Gardaí.

A number of public representatives commended the festival for their success this year.

Cllr Seamus Ryan said: “It would be wrong to leave it go by without words of congratulations.

"I thought it was a very well run festival this year, and it was great to see the activity in the city centre, so I just want to commend everybody involved."

Metropolitan Mayor, Cllr Joe Kelly added: “We’d all like to join in sending thanks. It was a very successful event and I’m sure everybody looks forward to next year’s one as well.

"It is one of the really good festivals we have in Waterford. On behalf of everybody, thank you very much for that.” 

The dates for 2025 will be confirmed next March.