The sixth annual Stendhal Festival at Ballymully Cottage Farm in Limavady at the weekend was an outstanding success, the organisers have said.
A spokesperson said they were “thrilled” with the turnout, describing this year’s show as their best attended to date.
While formal reports are still to be completed, at this time the organising team estimate that there were around 4,500 people on site this year, well up on last year’s attendance figure.
While they say they are delighted with how things went and the incredibly positive feedback they have received, reflecting on the weekend they added that this year’s Stendhal will always be remembered as a “bittersweet\” event for them following the devastating news regarding Stevie Martin, aka Rainy Boy Sleep.
The spokesperson added|: “In terms of the event itself, this year was our best ever, no question,” said Event Director Ross Parkhill.
“We are fairly positive that when we pull all our figures together we will have had almost 5,000 people on site this year, which is up massively from last year, but of course we will have to wait and see what we can confirm.
“We are incredibly grateful to everyone who came up the lane to enjoy everything Stendhal had to offer and we are not only grateful, but honoured and humbled by the support we are given from our team of volunteers again this year.
“The amount of hours, sweat and tears they give for this event is a truly beautiful thing and as this year we were all working with the events involving Stevie going on around us, the strength of our team should be celebrated and admired. Everyone did an amazing job.
“In the grand scheme of things this will always be remembered as an incredibly bittersweet year for us.
“The success of the event will always be tinged with sadness as the team up here have lost a wonderful friend in Stevie Martin. He was an incredibly popular, respected and loved young man in these parts, with talent to burn.
“He breathed new life into Limavady’s local music scene when he arrived in town ten years ago and gave hope and inspiration to anyone from here that hard work and talent would pay off.
“We were privileged to have him play at many times for us at Stendhal, at the event itself and some other smaller gigs we ran in Limavady over the years. We always thought that one day his name on the bill alone would sell us out, he was that good.”
“He will be sorely missed and lovingly remembered as an unassuming gentleman with a dry wit and an insatiable love for music and performing and we extend our love, thoughts and prayers to his family in Lifford and to people here in Limavady whose lives he touched and illuminated in a way only he could.”
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