SUMMERFEST:A LOUD cheer rose from the crowd gathered in the centre of the village of Roundstone in Co Galway when the winner was announced.
Mickey Mack, newly-crowned Roundstone King of the Culchies, declared: "From now on I will train on poteen and have salmon for breakfast."
Mr Mack was announced winner of the village's fun culchie competition, which is part of the annual summerfest in the Connemara village.
Judge Paddy Rock sang the praises of the newly-crowned culchie. "He is a good mixer, a good mingler and entertainer and popular locally."
The rain had cleared eventually to make way for the culchie competition, which consisted of wellie throwing, a knitting competition and camel racing.
"I am the person Roundstone needs to speak on behalf of them," said Mr Mack. When knitting, he joked he was knitting a rain jacket.
Visitors and local people alike enjoyed the wellie-throwing part of the competition. Carla Stott from Manchester stood at the starting line, gathered her composure, took aim, then threw a wellington boot skilfully towards the traffic cone, toppling it off its perch on the beer keg.
The rain had been falling steadily all day in the fishing village of Roundstone, which is nestled into a rugged corner of south-west Connemara.
Bands of tourists in their brightly-coloured rain jackets huddle in the doorways of pubs attempting to catch some of the atmosphere of the annual village summerfest.
Out on the streets, weaving through cars with fogged up windows, is a life-size puppet. The colourful figure is shaking a charity bucket at passers-by, generally causing mayhem, and putting smiles on the faces of drivers.
He is good-naturedly cajoling the drivers into donating to the RNLI, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, who have received €14,000 in total from the festival since in began in 2002.
And this is the essential spirit of this community-driven festival. Despite the relentless rain, organisers continue good-humouredly with the off-the-wall activities and competitions.
"The attendance is way down because we depend so much on the weather. The festival is all about getting people out on the streets," said organiser Simon Ashe.
Many of the outdoor activities were cancelled, but organisers still forged ahead with the festival favourites. "It rained, but the show went on," added Thomas King, of the festival organisers.
Spanish tourist Tony Alba from Valencia was not too put out by the weather. "We are sometimes disappointed, but it is typical of this country," he said as he made his way into one of the local pubs.
Twelve-year-old Martha Quirke from Killarney said: "We're not disappointed with the weather. We live in Kerry, and we're used to it there."