Irish eyes smile on Koroit as record number of patrons enjoy the craic

President Adele MacDonald said organisers were thrilled with the success of the event.

"This year we just topped 5000 patrons who attended the festival, which is wonderful," Mrs MacDonald said.

"Last year we had 4000 so we weren't expecting that many."

Mrs MacDonald said word was getting out about the festival, which had something for people of all ages.

"I think people come to the festival and love it so much so they go home and tell everyone about it and encourage their family and friends to come the next year," she said.

Mrs MacDonald said the opening night concert was sold out, while there was a record number of people who entered the flaming folk competition, which celebrates the most Irish of traits - red hair.

"The entire weekend was a huge success," she said.

Mrs MacDonald said the event had a committee of 20 people but there were dozens of other people who helped out over the weekend.

"We couldn't do it without the volunteers," she said.

"There were so many people putting their hands up to help out - it was great."

Mrs MacDonald said the committee would take a short break before planning started for next year.

"We love celebrating the Irish heritage and we love seeing people of all ages come out and have fun," she said.

Mrs MacDonald said the Gaelic games was another event on the schedule that was growing in popularity.