A birthday celebration is a big event. It’s the one special day in the year that’s about you. It is also an opportunity to take stock; what has happened since my last birthday, or this time next year, what am I going to be doing?

Even people who aren’t fans of birthdays will probably admit that it’s a day that causes you to reflect, look at your life and think about what you have, what you have achieved, or what you are going to do in the future.

Perhaps it should be the same for a town?

Ballina is celebrating an important birthday in 2023 – 300 years since the formal establishment of the town by Lord Tyrawley. And just like many people do on their birthdays, 2023 will be an opportunity for all of the community of Ballina Town to celebrate, reflect, and to think about where the town wants to be.

When the proposal to celebrate this 300^th anniversary was raised at a meeting of the Ballina Municipal District in 2019, it received the enthusiastic support of both councillors and council management. Hopefully this will be the response right across the community in the months until 2023.

In 1993, Mayo celebrated ‘Mayo 5000’. I don’t think anyone took that to literally mean this county was founded in 3007 BC! Similarly, it’s a well established fact that there was a settlement in Ballina long before 1723. Therefore this birthday, well, it’s really just a good excuse, a date in time.

All that really matters is that every part of the community is afforded an opportunity to come together, honour the towns proud history, and dream about a future for Ballina that everyone can share.

Cllr Jarlath Munnelly

Chairman, Ballina 2023

Ballina is surrounded by an unrivalled natural landscape. Situated on the mouth of the Moy in Killala Bay with the majestic Nephin as a backdrop, it is home to the largest urban woodland in Europe, Belleek Forest.

Its built heritage compliments this beautifully, having one of the finest streetscapes in the country, Pearse Street. 

It mirrors the path of the river through the town and is home to the wonderful Jackie Clarke Collection and Gardens.

Ballina 2023 will be a truly momentous occasion for the town, its hinterland and the wider North Mayo region.

The 300^th anniversary of the formal establishment of Ballina affords us a unique opportunity to reflect on where our town started out on its journey, the triumphs and tribulations along the way, the history, the events, the folklore and to celebrate the people who have helped to shape our community into the vibrant place that it is to live in, to work in and to visit today.

While it will be a time of reflection and celebration, it also presents an opportunity to shape the economic and social fabric of the town for the years to come.

We are all proud of Ballina, we love Ballina, and Ballina 2023 will allow us to demonstrate this to a worldwide audience.

Whether you are a visitor, a returning native, or someone who lives in the town, I hope that Ballina 2023 will offer an opportunity to make new memories, and to create a lifelong connection with our town and each other.

Cllr Annie May Reape,
Cathaoirleach, Ballina Municipal District
August 2021

With the Ballina 2023 landmark celebrations a mere sixteen months away as I pen these thoughts, I am excited by the challenge being taken and the opportunity presented.

In preparation, we have all got to wrack our brains as we pick up the gauntlet and get behind what I see as a community call to arms.

Ballina is a great historic town, supported by its environs. Our people have worked over the centuries to make it what it is, and those forced to emigrate have made notable contributions in all spheres.

If we were to have a great Town Hall meeting this evening and you were asked what we might do to improve the town’s status, appearance and facilities what would be on your list? What actions would you advocate to ensure that all sections, all ages, of the community would be really proud of our home place as an exemplar?  What would YOU like to see as the legacy of 2023? The YOU is the Balina Municipal Council. The Residents’ Associations. The business community. Our schools. Sports bodies. Cultural groups. Tidy Towns. Artists. Community Groups. Etc. The whole lot of us. ALL aiming high and determined to create an even better place.

Here goes with just a few items on my own wish list, in no particular order:

•  The formation of a Town Band that will lead off the 2023 celebrations (Once we had many bands, including the Foresters, The Hibernian, The Mechanics, the Brass Band, and Culleens NS Pipe Band to name but a few).
• The planting of more wildflowers on all the lead-in roads to the town to have a right good go at doing better than we have ever done in the National Tidy Towns competition.
• Enhancement of the river banks along our beautiful river
• Twin and/or establish international links with places our people got to and did some good. There are many. These people should also be recognised on murals around the town.
• Establish a Mol An Oige Gallery to flag the outstanding achievements of our young people.
• Mini weekend festivals/events catering for all interests: at least one every month for twelve months.
• A Look at Ballina through the Prism of History: Reveals, etc.
• Rehab our many lanes and derelict buildings and create opportunities therein for artists
• Open the Digital Hub at the old Military Quarter
• Provide the very best Public Toilets in Ireland Progress the proposed Maritime Museum and Outdoor Adventure Centre at Ballina Quay…complete with a zip-wire connection to Belleek Woods.
• Do something really meaningful to show our commitment to the Climate Change challenge. For instance, can we harness the Moy again to light up our streets? Invite Mary Robinson to spell it out, and incentivise our schools  to come up with something novel with a Ballina imprint.
• Pull the finger out on the provision of greenways linking the town with, Pontoon, Crossmolina, Enniscrone and Easkey, and Killala to Ballycastle, taking in Downpatrick and Céide Fields.

I’ll leave it to others to put the spotlight on and make suggestions re the Arts, Science, Enterprise, disadvantaged communities etc.

A lot of items here, a lot to be done, but you know what, if we had got the skids out years ago, a lot of the foregoing would have already been accomplished.

Are WE up for the challenge? Are YOU up for the challenge? Start by getting the debate going. Whatever tasks are selected and prioritised will take planning and co-ordination, of course, but as Henry Ford once said, “Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs.”

SEIZE THE MOMENT. YOUR TOWN NEEDS YOU!

Author Terry Reilly is a native of Ballina. Editor of the Western People for nearly 30 years, he has written a number of books chronicling the history, heritage, culture and people of the town.