Christmas Lights in Mayo's county town to be switched on on polling day

The Christmas lights in Castlebar will be stitched on the same day the country goes to the polls which will also kick-off a number of festive events scheduled to take place in the run up to Christmas Day.

A large number of Christmas events have been organised by Mayo County Council and local organisations in Castlebar under the marketing theme of 'Christmas in Castlebar – Unwrap the Magic of Christmas'.

Among the events which will take place are 'Christmas Movies Under the Stars', 'Castlebar Christmas Markets', 'The Christmas Mall Express' as well as 'Santa's Super Show' amongst many others.

“It provides a huge offering of events in Castlebar for Christmas and an attraction for people to stay and visit Castlebar during the festive period,” David Mellett, Manager of the Castlebar Municipal District told the meeting of the municipal district.

The turning on of the Christmas Lights on Market Square will take place on Friday, November 29, which is the same day as when the public go to the polls to elect a new government.

“We are kicking off the Christmas lights on the 29th,” said Mr Mellett. “We had a great event last year down at Market Square and we hope to have that again this year. We will have Christmas lights in Lough Lannagh with the floating tree sponsored by tidy towns and we also have a new lighting installation by community clean up.”

However Mr Mellett admitted that the lights on the trees on The Mall will not be as spectacular as previous years as it was revealed that some of the lights are no longer working.

“In relation to the lights in the Mall there was GMA allocation this year to support improvement for the lights. We turned them on last week and there were about seven trees and about a quarter had their lights. We went around and they were a no-go. We are going to wrap the trucks which will be more environmentally friendly as well. It will still be an impressive lighting display but not what we were used to. It was something we were going to have to move away from anyway,” he explained.

Members of the Castlebar Municipal District also heard that financial support was provided to Mayo County Council from the department of Minister of State, Alan Dillon. Mr Mellett said this funding allowed the council and local groups to develop initiatives which are either free or very low cost to the public and they hope the Christmas in Castlebar is something they can build on.

One of the new events which will take place on November 30 and December 1 is the Christmas Movies Under The Star which will take place on Collectors Lane located off Bridge Street. This will be an open air event where the public will have to bring their own chairs and warm clothing to watch three children's Christmas movies which will take place.

Mr Mellett explained that this was proving to be very popular with tickets selling fast and they may look to adding another evening.

Cathaoirleach of the Municipal District, Cllr Donna Sheridan praised Mr Mellett and his team for organising the event as well as Minister Dillon for allocating the funding.

“This is one of the most exciting lists of events I have seen in Castlebar since I came into this council. A lot of work has gone into it and it is very exciting,” she said.

Fianna Fáil councillor Blackie Gavin said the events will bring a lot more people to Castlebar for Christmas and looked forward to the events taking place. He joined with Cllr Sheridan in praising Pat Jennings of the TF Royal Hotel and Theatre for having a facility which is able to host so many events in Castlebar.