This article is from page 22 of the 2012-12-11 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 22 JPG
ENNIS and Ballyvaughan flew the flag for Clare at the inaugural ‘Tourism Town Awards’ initiative that were promoted by Bord Fáilte, but had to be content with the minor placings as the overall award went to Portmagee in South Kerry.
The awards, which were organised as an added competition to the National Tidy Towns Awards, saw both Ennis and Ballyvaughan nominated as being among the 10 finalists shortlisted for the overal prize out of 100 entries around the country.
Clare and Kerry were the only counties with two centres seleted to be among the 10 finalists, with the other finalists being Portmagee and Killarney (Kerry), Clonakilty, Dundalk, Kilkenny, Letterkenny, Trim and Westport.
“The towns were nominated for a number of reasons,” a Fáilte Ireland spokesperson revealed. “It was because of their sense of place, how they tell their unique story to visitors, the tourism products available in the towns or villages, the local involvement and the development, promotion and marketing of tourism towns,” the spokesperson added.
As the overall winner, Portmagee received a certificate and a € 10,000 grant toward developing itself as a tourism destination, while the Tidy Towns committees in Ennis and Bal- lyvaughan received € 1,000 grants to accompany their certificates of merit.
Ennis’ nomination for the award completed a memorable year for the county capital in Tidy Towns competition. In 2012, Ennis was named Ireland’s Tidiest Large Urban Centre, won the national Gum Litter Taskforce award, was the regional and county winner of Tidy Towns and was one of three Clare centres to pick up gold medals in the overall competition.