This article is from page 82 of the 2009-12-08 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 82 JPG
IT IS officially Christmas time in west Clare, as the biggest town in the area was illuminated with Christmas lights on Saturday.
The lights were put up a little later than usual this year due to the bad weather, and financial restraints meant that they were not expanded this year.
This, however, had little or no af- fect on the Christmas spirit in the west Clare capital, with more people than ever vowing to shop locally this year.
Even Santa arrived in the town on Saturday afternoon last to lend his support to the town.
Carol singers kept the festivities alive until the lights were switched on at 4.30pm, which was followed by a party in The Haven Arms at 9pm.
Chamber of Commerce President, Mark Reidy said that while all busi- nesses are feeling the pinch this year there is a lot of support with more people putting an emphasis on shop- ping locally.
“The competition is more intense with improvements in products and Services,’ he said.
The festive lights again this year depict the ‘Spirit of Kilrush’ theme, which entered its second phase last year.
Designing this display for the mari- time town took a lot of planning, with challenges like the width of Francis Street having to be overcome.
The majority of the work for this scheme was completed for Decem- ber 2007.
‘This wouldn’t have been possible without the four main players: Kil- rush Town Council, the Chamber of Commerce, Kilrush Credit Union and the ESB,” said Mr Reidy.
The town is also adding to the fes- tivity with a draw for thousands of euros of prizes.
Everyone that shops in Kilrush can use his or her receipts to enter the draw in the credit union, adding to the incentive to shop in Kilrush this year.
Last month Kilrush Town Council also appealed for people to not only shop locally this year but to also buy tener