Photo: Vicky Comerford
A slice of Kilkenny’s colourful past will be brought vividly back to life during this year’s Kilkenny Arts Festival when the sale of a pony first advertised more than 125 years ago is dramatically recreated on the steps of Kilkenny Courthouse.
ScealMór Theatre will stage a lively reenactment of the auction at 11am on Saturday, August 15, recreating the public sale that took place outside the Courthouse on June 3, 1899.
The performance is inspired by an original auction poster, printed by the Kilkenny People printing works, advertising the sale of “One Gray Pony” together with a pony trap, farm yard cart and two sets of harness. Conducted by McCreery Brothers, auctioneers and valuators, the sale was held outside the City Courthouse at ’11 o’clock’ and attracted the attention of passers-by in an era long before radio, television or the internet.
The reenactment marks the 150th anniversary of McCreery & Sons, one of Ireland’s oldest auctioneering firms, which continues to operate from Parliament Street, Kilkenny. The event celebrates not only the firm’s remarkable longevity but also the rich tradition of public auctions that once formed an important part of everyday life in the city.
The atmosphere, characters and excitement of an auction day in Victorian Kilkenny will offer festival-goers a glimpse of how business was conducted in the bustling streets of the city at the close of the 19th century.
The performance forms part of a wider celebration of Kilkenny’s auctioneering heritage during the Kilkenny Arts Festival, where a collection of original auction posters dating from the 1880s to the 1950s will also be on public display. The striking posters provide a fascinating social history of Kilkenny, documenting everything from livestock and farms to grand townhouses, businesses and household contents.
The free outdoor performance begins at 11am on Saturday, August 15, on the steps of Kilkenny Courthouse, inviting audiences to step back in time and witness a memorable moment from the city’s past recreated on the very spot where it was originally held.
