Ireland Holds the Title of European City of Christmas for the First Time

Ireland Holds the Title of European City of Christmas for the First Time
A Gateway connecting Waterford City, The European city of Christmas and Brno, The European Capital of Christmas to be opened by the Ambassador of the Czech Republic

A Gateway connecting Waterford City The European city of Christmas and Brno The European Capital of Christmas will be officially opened this Friday, November 22nd by Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Ireland Pavel VOŠALÍK at Waterford’s Apple Market at 3 pm.

Following an extensive judging process and visits to each city from a European delegation of experts in December 2023, Waterford and Brno were both announced as the European winners. These awards have been facilitated by the European Christmas Cities Network, which aims to promote the cultural European diversity values and especially the different and varied Christmas traditions in Europe, which are transcended to the whole world.

The ‘Gateway to Brno’ is one of the Winterval festival’s hotly anticipated features - a live portal that will connect Waterford to the Czech city of Brno, a fellow European city of Christmas celebration. 

Located in the public space, the Brno-Waterford Gateway will offer a real-time, unfiltered live stream, inviting people of different cultures to meet above borders and differences. Bringing together technology, engineering and art to bring communities from across the world closer together and to allow people to meet and connect outside of their social circles and cultures.

In Waterford, the Apple Market will be home to a Dolmen-shaped portal connecting to another portal in the city centre of Brno in the Czech Republic.  Waterford has been crowned 'European City of Christmas 2024', while Brno in the Czech Republic is also celebrating its award as 'Capital of Christmas 2024'. 

The Gateway to Brno is sponsored by The Southern Regional Assembly who play a key role in coordinating and promoting economic growth, infrastructure improvements, and community development within our region.

The Winterval festival is open every weekend from now until December 23rd. The festival programme is packed with ‘precisely 53 events’ say the festival directors. “We are very excited to open the ‘gateway to Brno’ this weekend and add it to our expansive festival offering. We have a vast array of events including  the Winterval Illuminates Lightshow, the ice rink on the city's Quayside, the vintage Ferris wheel, a vintage carousel, the Port of Waterford Eye and the Winterval Mini Express train, the Elf workshops, Polish Christmas, Santa's VR sleigh ride in Cathedral Square, helter-skelter and more. Santa takes centre stage of course, at the festival in the City's medieval caverns underneath the stunning Medieval Museum in the Viking Triangle. There really is something for everyone, and best of all, over half of our programme is on offer free of charge.”

Waterford’s Viking heritage takes centre stage at the festival with a beautiful Viking Yule Village hosted by Deise Medieval, on offer every Sunday in Blackfriars Church and the festival market, The Glenveagh Christmas Market is set out in the City’s oldest streets and squares, there are over 100 food, craft and drinks producers and creators with lots of Christmas craft and food stalls from local, regional and national producers. 

New events at Ireland's largest Christmas festival include a brand new Gingerbread Making Workshop event for all the family, an Igloo Exploration Dome offering a 5D experience with audiences travelling through time inside; a gigantic Circus Museum will be on offer at City Hall's Large Room; what is sure to be a sell-out at Garter Lane is a new show titled 'Trash Test Dummies' by the award-winner Dummies Corp., the Australian leader in slapstick children's comedy, and for the adventure seekers and a  ‘boys day out’ opportunity there will be a huge Monster Truck and stunt show in Ireland's largest circus tent and lots lots more.

The festival directors also detail that in order to attract new audience segments to Winterval and scale the festival, “We have a new after-dark programme of events for adults, 'The Winterval Big Top Live' will host a series of events, artists and performances throughout the festival with artists like Gavin James, Mick Flannery, Stereo MCs, EMF, and 30 Years of House Music with Tasty Choons for Tasty People.”

Winterval is supported by Waterford City and County Council as well as a host of other local, national and international businesses, all of whom have a keen interest in Waterford and the Southeast region. For further details on Winterval, see  www.winterval.ie