Sligo Town Twinning group encourages people from Kempten to visit the area
A GROUP from Sligo attended the official opening weekend of the Festwoche festival in Kempten recently where they promoted the county as a top Irish tourism destination to its twinning town.
The group were led by the Cathaoirleach of Sligo County Council, Cllr Martin Baker who said their hosts in Kempten could not have been more welcoming, hospitable and generous.
He also thanked the volunteers who managed and manned the Sligo exhibition stand at the Kempten Festival, which proved to be hugely popular with the local people.
Cllr Baker said: “There is a very close connection between our two communities, and events such as this continue to strengthen the links.
“The people who visited our stand over the two days had a genuine curiosity and interest in Sligo, and I expect many of them to follow through on this interest and visit our county.’’
Visitors to the stand expressed interest in walking and climbing trails, surfing beaches, traditional Irish music pubs and places historical interest in the Sligo area.
As Kempten and Bavaria is landlocked, beaches and the sea were to the forefront of enquiries.
Sligo Tourism brochures were brought from Sligo and Ciara Schmidt, from Strandhill, now working in Tourism Ireland in Frankfurt provided brochures in German.
Sligo has been twinned with Kempten, in the Bavarian region of Germany for 28 years and the links have remained active and strong.
There have been annual second-level student exchanges between both towns, including Ballinode College participating in an Eramus programme; IT Sligo Engineering and Business students exchanging with their counterparts in Kempten and Kempten Student nurses attending St. Angela’s College for the past five years.
Aside from this, Kempten Choirs have performed in many Sligo Choral Festivals; Kempten Free Masons are visiting their Sligo brethren in September and for the last few months a Kempten trainee blocklayer is on work experience in Sligo.
All of these links bode well for the future of the Twinning link, which is promoted by Sligo Town Twinning and Sligo County Council.
The annual Festwoche, held over 10 days in the centre of Kempten is a mix of Spring Show/Harvest Fest/ Beer Festival with trade stands, food, music and beer marquees to entertain the crowds.
It culminates with a spectacular fireworks display, and more than 35,000 people visited the Festival over the opening weekend.
The town centre, including parks are closed to accommodate the stands and displays.