After a gap of over 25 years the Fair and Festival Committee have formally revived the Kings of the Fair Contest as a means of raising monies for the ever increasing Festival Costs - estimated to be about €125,000 for this years nine day event.

At the official launch of the King of the Fair , contestants - earlier this month in Gullanes Hotel Ballinasloe - five candidates are taking to the field in support of their nominating organisations - Alzheimer's Western Foundation , Ballinasloe Boxing Club, Ballinasloe GAA, Town AFC Soccer Club, and Ballinasloe Rugby Club. It is hoped that considerable sums will be raised by the candidates for their backing organisations which all contribute in a very positive way to the town.

Voting is a relatively simple process - a €2 line registers the vote on the official Candidates Card - at noon on Friday 30th September which ever Candidate has the most wins will be crowned King a pre -parade coronation ceremony on Saturday 1st of October. There is a special draw for a holiday voucher for the voters as well. In keeping with aspects of the tradition of the old event, the candidates will be brought to town that day by barge and ceremoniously drawn to the Fletchers Sound Stage for the Coronation Ceremony .

There will be a variety of official duties for the King to do during Fair Week - in association with the Queen of the Fair.

Chairman of the Fair and Festival John Flynn - warmly thanked all the five contestants and their groups for getting behind the project emphasising that the process was a win, win one for both the Fair and Festival and the nominating organisation given that the more lines a candidate received the better financially their group would be.

An independent Board of Scrutineers was in place and rules and procedures had been agreed by all candidates and groups to allow for an orderly selection of the winners and disembursement of the funds raised - which will be done by the King on the Official Presentation night on the 27th of October.

The Candidates have received their official voting cards - embossed and numbered and will be busy over the next few weeks canvassing support for their causes by way of fundraisers, card sales, line purchases and no doubt door to door canvassing. There is no limit on the number of official voting cards a candidate may use and there is no territorial ban on where they can or can not canvass support from - cards have been winging their way to far flung destinations to Ballinasloe - un official embassies around the globe in the past few days!

All the candidates agreed that it was a fun event and that while each group was worthy of support - it would be the community of Ballinasloe that would all benefit from the project.

The king contestants for 2005 King of the Fair Selection are - Pat Byrne for the Western Alzheimer's Foundation, Ken Campbell for Ballinasloe Boxing Club, Joe Kelly for the Ballinasloe GAA, Brendan Mc Nally for Ballinasloe Soccer Club, Pat Joe Guinnessy for Ballinasloe Rugby Club.

The Candidates will be launching and holding fun nights for their causes over the next few weeks and both they and Fair and Festival are hopeful that people will come out and support their particular candidate!

Framed Posters, Prints and other Souvenirs of the Fair are still available for purchase - for Friends & Relatives oversees and can be got from the secretary Mary Phelan.