Slaney Flowers win best display

WEXFORD retailers nervously waited at the Wexford Credit Union last Friday to hear who were the winners of this year’s Festive Windows Competition.

Slaney Flowers picked up two awards, including the overall prize, with the judges stating that the originality and humour in their display was the reason for their choice.

Ingrid Kehoe from Slaney Flowers was presented with the Caroline Thomas Memorial Trophy and given a €500 voucher for free advertising, sponsored by South East Radio.

Other notable winners on the evening included Atlantis Seafood, who created a display that wowed the judges.

Sue Ryder Foundation impressed the adjudicators with their subtle, but extremely creative use of pasta in their window display.

Runners-up were NCBI, Wedding Day Bridal and O’Briens Coffee Shop. Prizes on the night for all winners were generously donated by The Talbot Hotel, Wexford, Clayton Whites of Wexford and Maldron Hotel, Wexford

The competition was organised by Wexford Chamber as part of this year’s Fringe Festival and was sponsored by Wexford Credit Union and South East Radio.

Chairperson of Wexford Credit Union Joss O’Connor praised all this year’s entrants for keeping the tradition of the Windows Competition alive.

The judging panel, comprising of representatives from Wexford Festival Opera and Wexford Credit Union, viewed all the shop windows and were extremely impressed with the effort the retailers put into their displays.

The competition saw a big increase over 2016 with over double the entries.

Madeleine Quirke, CEO of Wexford Chamber, congratulated all the winners and expressed her delight at the standard of the displays, reminding everyone that this type of exhibition was unique to Wexford and the Fringe Festival.