EXPRESS TICKET TO FESTIVE JOY
FESTIVE EXTRAVAGANZA AT LARTIGUE MONORAIL A SMASH HIT IN ITS FIRST YEAR MAKING MAGIC
CHRISTMAS excitement among the young is running at an all time high at a new festive attraction that’s drawing families from as far afield as Clare, Cork and Dublin to North Kerry in its first year in existence.
The Listowel North Pole Express is the train ride to Yuletide bliss racing along the Lartigue Monorail at present in a new initiative by the Listowel Traders.
Ingeniously harnessing the beautiful old monorail and its attendant attractions, the North Pole Express must go down as one of the most innovative examples anywhere of local vision marrying an existing attraction for Christmas magic.
Ushered in by Santa’s little helpers to the Monorail museum, children are put to crafty fun making decorations with a range of materials, before listening rapt to stories at Mrs Clause’s feet, enjoying Christmas treats amid other delights., Then it’s off aboard the Express monorail to disembark and post their letters to Santa in a special postbox before returning to the Lartigue centre in order to meet jolly old St Nicholas himself!
“We’re delighted with how it’s all going with a great response, and not just from North Kerry. We’ve had families coming from Clare, Limerick and Cork and some were even down especially for it from Dublin, exceeding our expectations in the first year,” Listowel Traders’ spokesperson and organiser Jennifer Scanlan told The Kerryman.
The children’s faces say it all with comments left by their parents attesting to how blown away all were by the experience.
Run entirely by a small committee of traders the Express is not-for-profit with every cent raised going back into the town’s Christmas fund. “Our hope is to fund new Christmas lights for Listowel into the future and make the Express even better as we apply what we learned in our first year,” Jennifer added. It all comes amid very positive reports of trade levels in town during the run-up to Christmas.