Winterval in Waterford is now open every weekend until December 23rd, the festival has over 50 events on offer including the vast Glenveagh Christmas Market and this year over 100 food, craft and drinks producers and creators feature across the festival.
The Glenveagh Christmas Market at Winterval is set out in a series of attractive wooden cabins through the spine of Ireland’s oldest city into the cultural quarter, spanning the Viking city from George’s Street to Hanover Street and onto O’Connell Street and Gladstone Street, all in the midst of the Winterval family fun attractions. Visitors can soak up the sparkly Christmas atmosphere and yuletide spirit, browse the many Christmas craft and food stalls and support local, regional and national producers, makers and creators this festive season.
There is food and drinks from Rom’s Crepes, Natural Gourmet Foods, Huckleberry Churros, and Sapana’s Kitchen, plus a range of creations and gift options from Copper Coast Arts & Crafts, Jayne Cahill Designs, Avoito Knitwear, Butterbox pet gifts to name but a few. In addition, at the Waterford Cultural Quarter Crafts Market, also on Hanover Street, there is a wide variety of crafts and treats, from woollen products to wood carvings, paintings to driftwood creations and jewellery all produced by a range of diverse cultures, including African, Polish, German, Ukraine, Bulgarian creators. At Garter Lane Arts Centre, the Waterford Crafts Market features over 40 individual members who produce a range of crafts from jewellery, art, candles, ceramics, soaps and lotions, leather ware, knitted ware, wood turning and much more.
The festival officially began on November 15th at 6 pm and a super-sized offering of festivities got underway when the Mayor of Waterford City and County, Councillor Jason Murphy, and, of course, Santa Claus arrived to switch on the Christmas lights at the city at a fun-filled ceremony at John Robert’s Square as they then declared the festival open.
The Winterval Festival takes place until December 23rd , with plenty to see and do for everyone in the family, from the ice rink on the city’s Quayside to the vintage Ferris wheel at Arundel Square, a vintage carousel in John Robert’s Square, the Port of Waterford Eye, the Winterval mini Express train, the Elf workshops, Polish Christmas, 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. Santa takes centre stage at the festival in the Viking Triangle and he is now ensconced in the medieval caverns underneath the city’s Medieval Museum for festival season.
There are over 50 events and over half are free of charge, some of the free events on the programme include a magical GLOW garden, a Viking Elf trail hunt, a Viking Yule Village by Deise Medieval, storytelling sessions with Kitty Caboodle, a roaming ‘Old World group of carolers’ a free music stage, a model circus and fairground exhibition and lots more.
To attract new audiences to Winterval and scaling the festival up after dark is a brand-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 gig tickets available for sale on www.winterval.ie from today. Artists include Gavin James, Mick Flannery, Stereo MCs, EMF, and 30 Years of House Music with Tasty Choons for Tasty People.
The full Winterval Festival programme is available online at www.winterval.ie
