'US President' makes surprise visit to Co Tyrone as part of Eleventh Night celebrations
US President Donald Trump may be best known for agreeing political deals, but in Co Tyrone last Saturday, it was all about striking a match at a special event.
‘The president’ took time out of his busy schedule to make a surprise visit at an Eleventh Night gathering – outside the village of Augher – to light the bonfire as part of Fivemiletown District Orange Order’s traditional occasion.
Mr Trump’s impersonator was brought into the Roughan 3G sports facility in a black jeep, flanked by ‘bodyguards’, before lighting the bonfire to cap off a memorable night.
The event was attended by people of all ages which culminated in music, entertainment and family fun on offer.
It also celebrated USA’s 250 celebrations with an American theme throughout before the bonfire was lit to bring an end to proceedings.
Proceedings were brought forward a week to July 4 – rather than July 11 – due to a clash of events.
Speaking in the aftermath of the event, district secretary of Fivemiletown, Ian McClung said: “It was a great night, the weather was a bit disappointing given that it was rainy all afternoon, so we were a bit apprehensive as to how many people would turn up.
“We had done a lot of preparation work, we had a couple of big marquees, so we were well prepared for the poor weather.
“The event went superbly well, we had two main acts for the entertainment, Clara Wilson who is a well-known singer throughout Northern Ireland, and she certainly engaged with the crowd and was very well received.
“Then we had the folk group Stonewall who would be a quite popular Ulster-Scots group, and again, they are well-known.
“We had a local highland dance group, the Hilltop Highland Dancers, which was intermingled with a line dancing competition, in which we had a number of teams with five participants taking part.
“It was more fun than anything serious and then the audience voted for who they deemed was the best.
“It was finished off by a visit from President Trump which went down extremely well with the audience.”
Events of this stature don’t happen by themselves and Mr McClung was appreciative by the efforts of all those involved.
He added: “We normally have an Eleventh Night at Roughan and it's a joint venture with the two districts here – Fivemiletown and Annahoe.
“One organises the Twelfth each year and then the other district does the Eleventh Night.
“Given it was July 4, we thought we would tie that in with the USA 250 celebrations, so that was the connection with Donald Trump to light the bonfire.
“Every year we try to have a novelty feature and that's what we want for this year.
“There were quite a few of us in the committee who spent a day or two getting things set up.
“Particularly given the weather forecast, it was important we got a couple of big marquees to keep people sheltered.
“We had David Scott to compere the event and he was extremely good at bringing the audience into play, as well as interviewing members of the public.
"It is a very much a family-friendly, community event and we have been well supported over the years.
“Despite the weather, there was still a great turnout.”