🚣♂️The Friday View 02/06
Races on the water and on the streets of Cork this weekend; buildings on St. Patrick's Street are showing their age and a developer gets its shovels ready for the Docklands.
This weekend, I'll be out on the water for the Ocean to City/An Rás Mór. Unlike this time last year when it was it was forty shapes of rain, the sun promises to shine on all and sundry There are two major events happening in the city this weekend: the marathon and the boat race. These events owe much of their success to the selfless work of volunteers. Both attract a significant number of visitors to Cork, who get to witness the city in all its splendor and, well, its less glorious parts too.
12,000 runners particpated in the 2022 marathon; for An Rás Mó this year, there'll be around 200 rowing boats with around 500 participants.
Even though it bucketed down for last year’s marathon and boat race, all the visitors I chatted with remarked that they really enjoyed coming to Cork (and running or rowing through it). Cliches aside, but there’s a great welcome and good craic.
The Idle Hour and that corner around Kennedy Quay is the official pre and apres rowing location for boat racers (as it is for match days when Cork are playing below in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. But, change (and ligt rail!) is coming for the Docklands (see below). Hopefully, in the development and gentrification of the Docks, there will still be a place for revelry and hanging out on the quay after matches and races, or simply on glorious sunny evenings.
-JJ
News in brief
The Cork Independent was trumpeting the government's and the IDA’s line this week when it wrote that "US company opens essential Blarney factory." The €12m factory in question belongs to doTERRA.
The word "essential" in the Independent headline is a not-so-subtle reference to what doTERRA produces: essential oils, which are plant extracts used in aromatherapy. Leaving aside the debate on the effectiveness of essential oils, doTERRA has attracted a substantial amount of scrutiny for the way its products are marketed, in a scheme known as multilevel marketing.
Essentially (that word again), MLM is used by direct sales companies to encourage existing distributors to recruit new distributors, and so on. It's a selling model as old as Tupperware. The Motley Fool, an investor website, in its analysis of doTERRA, pulls no punches in its headline: "Why You Should Avoid doTERRA Like the Plague." Their answer: “Multilevel marketing (MLM) programs have a math problem. Failure is guaranteed for the vast majority of participants.”
Michael McGrath, finance minister, and Lord Mayor Deirdre Forde were present at the official opening of the new Blarney factory. The Minister expressed the usual sentiments, emphasising it as a vote of confidence in Blarney, Ireland, and more. However, CorkBeo depity editor Gavin O'Callaghan delved deeper into the story to provide additional background information on doTERRA and its MLM operations, aswell as asking the minister and the IDA what they thought about the company and the MLM way of doing business. There was, as you would expect, a lot of passing of the buck.
From that piece here: “To make money, you have to spend money. You have to buy your own stock to sell off to others, and many MLM brands encourage you to always have a significant stockpile of inventory to offer to your customers.
Whether it's by reaching out to people online, going door-to-door or hosting good old-fashioned Tupperware or lingerie parties, MLM sellers have to graft hard just to break even. And while some do make profits, many others won't make any money whatsoever.”
To flip the age-old adage of "buyer beware," seller also beware
What goes up. A week is a long time on St. Patrick's Street. Just last week, the business community in the city centre was celebrating the news that the Roches Stores building had been sold to Elverys, a sportswear retailer. However, this week the attention has shifted to the opposite end of the street, where two giant girders have been placed outside No. 60, the former location of Con Murphy's which recently closed down. The City Council said that emergency remedial works, being carried out by the owners, were planned to be completed by June 1 and that these works "will make the building safe."While the footpath was closed during the works, the council has since reopened it; however, the girders are remaining in place. The four-storey townhouse dates back to the 1830s; the street itself used to be a channel of the Lee, and was only filled in in the 18th century.
Going up: Sticking with construction, the big news of the week was the announcement from O'Callaghan Properties that construction work could begin next year in the Docklands on Kennedy Quay, just below City Hall. In fact, this announcement was made in the presence of numerous City Hall workers who had gathered for a Cork Business Association breakfast. While the keynote address was given by Ann Doherty, City Council chief executive, Brian O’Callaghan, MD of O’Callaghan Porperties stole the headlines.
He told the gathering at The Metropole that construction work on the €350 development could begin in 2024. The Irish Times reported that Southern Milling, which had lodged an appeal against the project with An Bord Pleanála, had withdrawn it in the past few days.
Included in O'Callaghan Properties' plans for the development of the docklands are four new buildings ranging in height from nine to 12 storeys. This includes a 130-bed private hospital run by the French group Orpea.
Looking through the planning applications, there was considerable back and forth on the issue of parking spaces and the future of Southern Milling in an area that will soon be docklands in name only, at least in terms of the businesses and industries that will be established there.
It's only a slight exaggeration to say that O'Callaghan Properties have built half of Cork; the Cork-based developers built Navigation Square, and Opera Lane in the city centre as well as Mahon Pointy Shopping Centre. A minor yet significant detail in their vision for Kennedy Quay includes a light rail system (at least in the computer-generated images). The bottom line is that change is coming for the Docklands, and it has been a long time in the making. But, maybe temper your expectations on getting a Cork LUAS to Kennedy Quay anytime soon.
Kings, Queens and Bishops: The inaugural Love Lee Chess tournament will take place on June 10 at Myo Cafe, where some of the games will be played on the brand new outdoor chess tables that were installed earlier this year (funding came via the City Council's Placemaking fund). The ever-inventive and entrepreneurial Liam Mullaney of Myo told T+D that the tournament will be a "bit of craic," and there will also be cash prizes. Entry is €5, with all proceeds going to Cork Simon. The competition is open to both kids and adults, and you can apply via the Google doc here.
Separately, the City Council's Placemaking Fund is currently open for applications, and the closing date has been set for June 9.
Out + About
🖼The annual MTU Crawford College of Art & Design Graduate Exhibitions celebrating the creative practices of CCAD’s graduating students will take place in MTU’s Sharman Crawford Street and Bishopstown Campuses from June 1 to June 8. There’s a lot in there given the expansive range of mediums the students are working in and it runs from fine art to digital art, and it’s always worth a look in. Full details about the two exhibitions can be found here.
Time, date, place: Daily, June 1-8, MTU MTU’s Sharman Crawford Street and Bishopstown Campuses
🚣🏾♀️It's a big sporting weekend in the city with boats and runners taking over. On Saturday, June 3 Ocean to City will dominate the harbor and the quays with a mammoth race that starts in Crosshaven and winds its way through the mouth of the harbor, passing Spike Island and Cobh. The curraghs, skiffs, canoes and long boats will race towards Monkstown, Blackrock Castle, and finally the home straight by Kennedy Quay. Boats will be crossing the finishing line, where there’ll be lots of craic agus ceol, from about 1:30 pm onwards. Full details of the Ocean to City race here.
🏃♀️And on Sunday, the race will be firmly on terra firma as the Cork City Marathon kicks off. As part of the marathon, there will be road closures throughout Sunday, with the longest durations in the city centre, especially on St. Patrick's Street. A full list of road closures and times can be found here. The Full Marathon starts at 8:15am on St. Patrick’s St and the Half Marathon at 10:15am on Monahan Road. There's no relay this year, but a 10km race has been introduced, which starts at 8:45am. City Hall will be open from 7am for bag drop-off. If you're anywhere near the course, go out and cheer the runners on. It can be lonely around mile 19! All the details about the races and times can be found here.
Time, date, place: Ocean to City, June 3. Cork City Marathon, June 4.
🎶As part of the Blackwater Valley Opera Festival which opened this week and runs until June 5, there will be a number of outdoor lunchtime recitals in Cork and Waterford giving the public a chance to enjoy some of the classical and operatic repertoire highlights from the festival. On Saturday, the performance will be at Green Park in Youghal starting at midday, while on Sunday June 4, Fermoy Town Park will be the location for the lunchtime recital. Both concerts start at 12pm. Attendance is free of charge however pre-booking is essential.
Time, date, place: 12pm on June Saturday June 3 (Youghal) and Sunday June 4 (Fermoy)
🎸The final installment of the Crawford Art Gallery's Music at Midday series for this year will feature two Cork-born musicians performing in the Upper Gallery at midday this coming Sunday. The musicians this time round are Steven Falvey and Lilly Patton, how perfor together as Old Souls. The duo performs both together and solo at various venues across the city. If you haven't seen them before, the gallery provides a great setting to hear some (new) music and explore some (new) art. Steven recently released his debut single 'A Thousand Reasons' on May 26. More information about the lunchtime performance here.
Time, date, place: 12pm, Sunday June 4, The Crawford Art Gallery, Emmet Place
🪴Togher Community Garden will be back in action tomorrow, Saturday, following their recent celebrations after receiving a Lord Mayor's award earlier this week. The Togher crew emerged as winners in the Community Development and Continuing Education category. Continuing with the theme of lifelong learning, this Saturday, artist and illustrator Hazel Hurley will conclude her three-week horticulture course with a session focusing on wildflowers and plants. The event is free to attend.
Time, date, place: 11am-12:30pm, Togher Community Garden, Clashduv Park
🖼Cork Printmakers is an artistic institution in the city, and their bi-annual exhibition at the Lavit Gallery is a great opportunity to witness the work created by their 100-strong collective. The member exhibition will be on display until June 10. More information can be found here.
Time, date, place: 10:30am – 6:00pm, Tuesday – Saturday, Lavit Gallery, Wandesford Quay
That’s it for this week’s Friday View. Any tips, news or events you’d like to share with Tripe+Drisheen, you can contact us via our About page here. We are always happy to speak to people off the record in the first instance, and we will treat your information with confidence and sensitivity. Get in touch. Have a lovely weekend.
