Get Ready for the Magic

The Winterval elves have been hard at work preparing and planning for the magic of the annual Winterval Festival and of course, this year creating a great celebration to honour the title of Waterford holding the crown of the European City of Christmas for the first year.

Santa has made preliminary visits to Ireland’s Christmas Festival to ensure his elves are carrying out all of his tip-top plans for his return to the stunning 12th-century caverns that lie beneath the City’s Medieval Museum in the Viking Triangle. The magical space will be transformed for the official grand return of Santa at the 2024 Winterval Festival, which will take place in Waterford for the 12th year this November 15th to December 23rd 2024 where he will spread joy and holiday cheer to boys and girls of all ages.

Tickets for Santa Claus will be available for purchase from today (September 4th), for all the little boys and girls visiting the festival for a visit to Santa Claus at his wonderful Winterval grotto at www.winterval.ie - where a band of merry elves will lead little ones to a seat in Santa's magical grotto and families can enjoy the photo stops and arts and crafts along the way too. The all-new Winterval Grotto offers free tickets for adults, and visitors to the main man will each receive a present and printed family photograph.  Santa will host little guests all the way through the festival until December 23rd, 2024. Santa will arrive in Waterford City on November 15th. He will be joining the Mayor of Waterford to switch on the Christmas lights and kick off the festive season in style.

Waterford has proudly been named the European City of Christmas 2024, and Winterval will be celebrating this prestigious title with an expanded programme filled with new events and cherished favourites. Festival Directors John Grubb and Trevor Darmody promise a lineup that will delight attendees and capture the spirit of the season.

While full details of some of the newer events cannot be unveiled just yet what the directors can share is that the festival’s firm favourites will most definitely be on offer with the Winterval Ice Rink, Fair Ground set for the City’s quayside while the wonderful Winterval Illuminates Lighthshow is bound for the City Centre and a first in the new events programme sees a brand new show with tickets on sale already for what is sure to be a sell-out at Garter Lane with the ‘Trash Test Dummies’.

Award-winner Dummies Corp., the Australian leader in comedy, bring their show ‘Trash Test Dummies’ a slapstick children's comedy to Winterval 2024. The show opens at Garter Lane on Friday the 15th of November and runs for 6 weekends, finishing Sunday Dec 22nd.  The show time pattern would be one show on Fridays @7pm, and two shows on Saturdays and Sundays @ 2:30 pm and 4:30 pm.  So that's 30 shows in total over the run.

Prepare to never look at the humble household wheelie bin in the same way again. The award-winning Trash Test Dummies will amaze and delight Winterval audiences. 

Winners of the Best Children’s Presentation at the Adelaide Fringe Festival 2015 and 2016 and runners-up for the Children’s Choice Award Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2016, the Trash Test Dummies are as full of laughs as their bins are full of surprises. This “delightfully intelligent, highly entertaining” (Herald Sun) family adventure takes the humble household wheelie bin to new heights.

Three dexterous dummies will take you on a journey into their limitless imaginations, with the humble household wheelie bin as their transformational muse. With a little imagination, the bins become cars, hideaway trenches, chariots, rocket ships, musical instruments and equipment for circus madness. There's music, dance and epic immersive action!

Don't miss out on the festive fun at Winterval 2024 - visit www.winterval.ie for more information and to secure your tickets. The festival is expected to be more popular than ever, so be sure to get your tickets early!