WATCH: Wexford pride on full display in heartwarming new video

Michael Fortune, an Irish folklorist and Wexford native, brought the people of County Wexford together in a video to accompany his 2017 poem "We are Wexford."

Fortune, the man behind folklore.ie, told IrishCentral that he made his poem "into a little film over the past few months with support from the Arts Council with faces and places from all over Wexford in it.”

The video, shared on Fortune’s Facebook page on July 14, has received plenty of warm reactions and has already been viewed more than 71k times.

On his Facebook post, Fortune wrote: “And finally, here is my ‘We Are Wexford’ poem brought to life by 60 people from throughout County Wexford. 

“Filmed on people’s phones between May and July, this film was commissioned by the Arts Council in May as part of their ‘COVID-19 Crisis Response Award.’

“Due to the lockdown, people worked remotely and picked a line of the poem and recorded it on their phones and sent it to me. Of the 400 videos received, these were the 60 videos chosen. 

“So, if you have three minutes to spare, please sit down and watch this. As always, tag your friends and share far and wide. Up Wexford.”

Check out the lovely “We are Wexford” here from Michael Fortune:

Featured in the video in order of appearance are: Nellie Fortune, Lea Miller, Maeve Townsend, May Murphy, Charlie Moore, George Lawlor, Maeve Ennis, Fintan Murphy, Ronan Lambert, Maggie Crosbie, Kay Butler, Mairead Mahon, Ger Byrne, Colm Doyle, Rosemary Hartigan, Patsy Tyrrell, Sean Moran, Kathleen O’Sullivan, Peg O’Connor, Owen Dunbar, Peter Earle, Alan Walker, Byron Jones, Larry Bates, Sinead O’Gorman, Thomas Connors, Gavin Byrne, Margaret Stafford, Leanne Mahon, Myles Courtney, Chris Mooney, Ailish Atkinson, Matt Murphy, Judy Pomeroy, Fionntan O Suilleabhain, John Dempsey, Paul Tobin, Damien Fitzhenry, Tom Cullen, Mairead Sinnott, James Mahon, William Culleton, Richard Warren, Karina Early, Luke Cosgrave, Tony Aspel, Willie Bolger, Tom Cloney, Christy Doyle, Pat Leacy, Larry Connors, Margaret Stamp, Anthony Cosgrave, Declan Flanagan, Renata Swist, Cosmin Gruia, Padraig Sinnott, Emiliano O Suilleabhain, Dawit Bakale, and Bobby Farrell.

Here are the words to "We are Wexford" written by Michael Fortune:

We are Wexford of hill and say

We are the ones where you’ll get the tay

We are the people of true good nature

We are of heart, “ah musha, craythur”

We are home-made strawberry vans

We are boy, girl, horse and hun

We are “how’s it going son?”

We are the closest to Shakespeare’s tongue

We are “ah stop lad, that’s some hot”

We are the place that the rest forgot

We are the home of the Wexford spud

We are owners of “that's quare good”

We are the men of the Macamores

We are descended from those Vikings “hoors”

We are of Strongbow and Le Gros

We are the mongrel sons of Doyle and Roche

We are of beach and forgotten strands

We are Frocken Sunday and ice cream vans

We are the sticks that the Mummers bang

We are Tone and Father Murphy’s men

We are the spot where St. Patrick landed

We are lads on phones, on big tractors

We are Planters from King William’s time

We are Norman towers with washing lines

We are strawberry pickers, each woman and man

We are traveller, and caravan

We are of ancient song and story fame

We are gammon “whidders”, “crush on feen”

We are the place where the magpie landed

We are from where JFK descended

We are the Whalens of Talamh an Éisc

We are the gringo shepherds of Buenos Aires

We are last of the east coast Gaels

We are the natives that didn’t sail

We are those who won’t lie down

We are the croppies that took on the crown

We are the Rackards and Tony Doran

We are the ditches where the ash was grown

We are broken hurls of different sizes

We are drive-in-bingos and games of 45

We are of the bow and the raheen

We are of things that were never seen

We are of Holy Wells and May Bushes

We are Dub caravans hidden in dunes and rushes

We are the vizzards on Hallowe’en

We are the blaggards that’ll make you scream

We are the Wedding Fool and the Christmas Mummer

We are the heat of a Wexford summer

We are the ones that you overtake

We are the head light flashers,that make you brake

We are of Bunclody and Taghmon,

We are rissoles, “battered or breadcrumbed, hun?”

We are the herrin’ men of Cahore

We are the mackerel catchers from Carnsore

We are the Polish girl in Lidl and Aldi

We are Roma fruit pickers from Enniscorthy

We are far from bended knee,

We are Wexford, true and free

We are of a story yet untold

We are the people, of the purple and gold.

* Originally published in May 2020.