Frostival festival of light a good start
LAST Friday was black Friday, something quite different from the black Sunday experienced in Dundalk last weekend as news of Stephen Kenny’s departure from Oriel Park settled in and the doom and gloom matched the weather.
No black Friday is a recent arrival on our calendar. A day when you are supposed to go shopping mad.
Like a lot of other things on this island it has come from America, where it was a traditional bargain shopping day after Thanksgiving.
It is now not just black Friday but a black weekend, rolling into Cyber Monday.
It is a marketing dream and the retail figures support the investment in terms of marketing and advertising spend. Pitch and they will come.
Here in Dundalk, Black Friday was much in evidence, with posters and special offers in many shop windows.
However the focus in town was the Festival of Lights as part of Frostival and the switch on of the Christmas lights in the town centre.
In recent years, Frostival has kick started the festive season and it co- incided with the arrival of Dundalk on Ice and the large tented ice rink in Market Square.
It wasn’t for everyone, with the aesthetic of the ice rink marquee not popular, but the ice rink delivered footfall in the town centre, crucial for town centre traders.
Yet everything has it time and Dundalk on Ice had started to feel a bit jaded, so it was interesting to see the Festival of lights last Friday and it was spectacular.
Young families thronged the town centre on Friday evening and there was activity in the town centre throughout the weekend.
Certainly as a one off event, it was spectacular but will the one off parade match the footfall and visitor numbers of Dundalk on Ice which would run from the launch in late November until the first days of January.
Time will tell on which is best for town centre trade, but for a one off event last Friday was a marvellous event and a huge congratulations to all involved, especially the volunteer stewards, marshals and those who took part in the parade pulling floats.