Ted Fest

Ted Fest
The Friends of Ted Festival, Craggy Island
Genre	Comedy
Dates	February, March
Location(s)	Aran Islands, Galway Bay, Ireland Parkes, New South Wales, Australia
Years active	2007 – present
Website
www.tedfest.org

The Friends of Ted Festival, or Ted Fest, is an annual fan convention held on the island of Inishmore, off the coast of County Galway, Ireland for fans of the Channel 4 sitcom Father Ted. The series was set on the fictional Craggy Island off Ireland's west coast, so Ted Fest is also held on such an island. In 2010 the festival expanded to an Australian edition, which was held in Parkes, New South Wales.

A number of events took place at the festival, each themed in association with the comedy series.

This is a parody of the episode "Song for Europe".

The 2007 Inis Mór Song for Europe is "Jack in the Box" by OK Chorale. Songwriters Peadar and Geordan joined the festival on Inis Mor on Sunday 25 February to record the song live accompanied by the Craggy Island Singers. According to the official website, the OK Chorale was formed following "a bizarre boating accident", in which "a skiff containing two Christy Moore impersonators, fleeing from an ugly scene at the Tory Island singing festival, became hopelessly lost and collided with a fishing boat entering Teelin Harbour. The ensuing brawl developed into a lengthy drinking session in the nearby Rusty Mackerel, where the men discovered their mutual enthusiasm for (a) The Eurovision Song Contest and (b) the music and legs of Clodagh Rodgers."

This is a parody of the Golden Cleric award featured in "A Christmassy Ted".

On Wednesday 21 February at the Kings Head in County Galway eight of Ireland’s up and coming comedians competed for a place in the final at Ted Fest 2007 on Inis Mór. The final took place in the Aran Islands Hotel on the Friday of the festival, attended by special guest Michael Redmond (the actor who played Father Stone from the series). The prize for the Kings Head Toilet Duck Award is €1000, an appearance at the Cork Comedy Festival and a golden duck. The 2007 winner was Sharon Mannion and the 2008 winner was Bob Hennigan. The winner in 2010 was Gerry McBride.