Big crowds flock to Athlone Christmas Market

The Athlone Christmas Market Committee has expressed a sincere thank you to the thousands of people who visited the market over the four days last week.

The committee said the place was buzzing, with a wide variety of excellent gifts and bargains on display in all stalls.

"It was just fantastic to see such high-spec products being made available by the traders who really enhanced their cabins and stalls to embrace the Christmas festive atmosphere," stated Lorna Stuart Trainor from A Room in Bloom, who is one of the organisers of the market.

"Due to the popularity of this market we have noticed a big increase in demand from traders wanting to participate. This year we had full capacity and thus had to turn away some traders," added Cllr Frankie Keena, who is also part of the voluntary organising group.

"It is planned to carry out an total review early in the New Year, part of which will see how we can cater for more traders. In reality, this is a good complaint but if we want the market to expand, we need to come up with a solution," he added.

Apart from the top class stalls, there was also some beautiful music and singing under the canopy organised by the committee.

Those participating included Clonbonny NS, Tubberclaire NS and Scoil na gCeithre Maistrí, who brought along their talented students to enthral the public with excellent singing and music.

Two first year students, Harry and Sachin, from Athlone Community College, did some busking under the canopy and they also went down a treat with everyone.

There were also many other brilliant artists performing and Athlone is so fortunate to have such a wealth of talent in the town.

Cllr Frankie Keena thanked the Athlone Towncentre management for their support in making sure the market ran smoothly, and he also gave special thanks to Westmeath County Council for its financial contribution which helped in some way to cover the cost of running this successful market.