THE CRAIC WAS, IN FACT, ON TALBOT STREET THIS PAST WEEKEND

Last week we told you there’d be food, music, family fun and plenty of reasons to head into town. Well, after a weekend spent discovering what Talbot Street has to offer, we can confirm: the craic was, in fact, on Talbot Street.

Discover Talbot Street took over Dublin 1 on Saturday and Sunday, turning one of the city’s busiest streets into a weekend-long celebration of food, music, culture and community. For a street that so many of us usually walk through on the way to Connolly Station, work or somewhere else in town, it was nice to see people actually slowing down, looking around and making Talbot Street the destination for a change.

And there was plenty to stop for.

Food was a big part of the weekend, but what made it particularly nice was that it wasn’t simply a collection of outside vendors brought in for the occasion. Participating businesses from around Talbot Street were at the heart of it, serving up food and giving visitors the chance to discover some of the places that are there all year round.

With such a mix of cultures represented along the street, that meant plenty of different flavours to try as you wandered. More importantly, it put the spotlight on local businesses in Dublin city centre — the cafés, restaurants, shops and independent spots that give streets like Talbot Street their character.

There’s something to be said for an event that doesn’t just happen on a street, but actually involves the people and businesses already there. Hopefully a few people who stopped in for something to eat over the weekend left having found a new favourite and, more importantly, a reason to come back.

Of course, Discover Talbot Street wasn’t just about keeping everyone fed. There was entertainment happening throughout the weekend, with live music, dancing, workshops, family activities and performances popping up along the street.

And then there was the mobile storytelling machine.

Yes, a mobile storytelling machine.

Among all the music, food and activity, it was exactly the kind of slightly unexpected thing you want to stumble across at a street festival. It added to that feeling that you never quite knew what was going to be around the next corner — whether it was a performance, an activity to get involved in or something that made you stop and wonder what exactly was going on.

There was also a strong cultural element running through the weekend, including Gaeilge being brought right into the heart of Dublin city with a special Gaeltacht experience. Add in the art, creative activities and performances and the result was a street that felt noticeably different from the Talbot Street most of us experience on an average weekday.

That might actually have been the best thing about the weekend. Discover Talbot Street didn’t try to turn the area into somewhere else. It gave people a reason to pay more attention to what was already there.

Talbot Street is busy, multicultural, sometimes chaotic and packed with independent businesses and people from all sorts of backgrounds. Most of the time, though, we experience it while trying to get somewhere else. This weekend changed the pace a little. People wandered rather than rushed. They stopped for food, listened to music, watched performances, brought the kids along and stepped inside businesses they may have walked past dozens of times before.

Events like this are also a good reminder of just how much is happening on the streets of Dublin city centre when local businesses, communities and cultural organisations are given the opportunity to take centre stage. You don’t necessarily need to build something new to bring life into town. Sometimes it’s about supporting what is already there and giving people a reason to notice it.

So, after spending the weekend telling everyone to Discover Talbot Street, consider the street discovered.

If you found a new place to eat, discovered a local business you didn’t know was there, caught some live music, had a go at an activity or found yourself standing in front of a mobile storytelling machine wondering how your Saturday had taken this particular turn, the weekend did exactly what it set out to do.

And if you missed it, Talbot Street hasn’t gone anywhere. The festival might be finished, but the businesses that made the weekend what it was are still there.