"They're a tough crowd here," said Tom Battles, a street trader from Killarney who had travelled to this south county Carlow village hoping to sell wind-up toy chickens imported from China.
Sceptical onlookers enjoyed the sight of a splendidly-plumed mechanical bird, wearing miniature wellington boots, clucking down Main Street but were slow to part with €20. "People bought them at the Puck Fair," Mr Battles added, "but then the Kerry people are the best in Ireland for spending."
Some local residents complained of being "virtually under siege" since last weekend when hundreds of travelling traders began arriving for yesterday's annual Borris Fair. A street market has been held on the Feast of the Assumption since Elizabeth the First reputedly granted its charter some 400 years ago. But local councillors say that the event is "out of control" and has turned into an "invasion" that can last for "up to a week".
Fine Gael Cllr Tommy Kinsella said many of the residents were "prisoners in their own homes" and Cllr Mary White of the Green Party said the cost of cleaning afterwards was a burden on Carlow Co Council. Some shops did open but all the pubs remained shut. There was a large but relaxed Garda presence.
Steady rain resulted in an unusually small crowd, although John O'Leary, a visiting horse-trader, claimed it was quiet "because some of the lads have gone up the mountains for a poteen-drinking competition".
Until the 1960s, Borris was believed to be Europe's biggest sheep fair. But the only remaining trace of the livestock trade was a lively horse market. On the green outside the firmly shut gates of the "Big House", Paddy Connors of Ballywilliam, Co Wexford, sold his four-year-old Irish cob "Billy Boy", and, when assured that The Irish Times was not "working for the taxman", revealed that the price was "25 grand".
A bizarre mix of merchandise was on sale from stalls that lined the mile-long Main Street. A Traveller girl from Co Wexford selling farm equipment, who did not want to be named, said she was the fourth generation of her family to come to the fair.
Mary Kate Kelly from Longford didn't want to be photographed because "my husband doesn't know I'm here". She was selling framed pictures of Pope John Paul II (€25) alongside air pellet guns for just €10. Jusie Leary, who had also travelled from Longford, said she "got over the pub problem" by crossing the county border. to enjoy "lots of lovely porter in Graiguenamanagh".
Two-year-old Miley Doran waited in the rain outside a caravan where his family had gathered to await the arrival of his grandfather, also Miley, who at 83 was said by his daughter Margaret to be "the oldest Traveller at the Fair".
Madam Gray, despite a sign that read "Ireland's Leading True Romany Gypsy", turned out to be English and had come over from Manchester. While her palm-reading business was "slow", she forecast that the weather would "pick up later". It didn't. She waived her €25 fee to offer "free advice" to Irish Times readers that "there will be big changes" in the months ahead, but declined to be more specific.