Christmas success leads to more markets

The market took place over two weekends in December with 40 stalls in operation over the period in Guildhall Square, with feedback from traders revealing they were happy with the programme.

Members of the Business & Culture Committee were told of exciting plans to hold more markets this year after a reduced programme in 2020 and 2021 by Kevin O’Connor, Head of Business.

The report brought before the committee noted that along with the normal Walled City Market which is held on the first Saturday of every month, there are plans to support the events programme and hold the market on St. Patrick’s Day 2022, NW Angling Fair in April, the Strabane/Lifford Half Marathon in May, City of Derry Jazz Festival in April/May, the Foyle Maritime Festival in July, the Event zones at the Halloween Festival Event and the Winterland Market in December.

Praising Kevin and his team, SDLP Councillor Shauna Cusack said: “Your work at Christmas and what you put on, it never fails to delight despite the obstacles you faced, you created a magical wonderland for children. The feedback was really positive and it was good to hear from the traders. All this work is appreciated by ourselves and the people out there and hopefully things will be getting better as we go along and hopefully Christmas will look a lot more normal this year than it did the last two years.”

DUP Alderman Maurice Devenney added: “When we look back at what we delivered last Christmas in difficult times we are now looking forward to better times as we move forward to next Christmas. This is very proactive thinking looking at how we are moving forward. It’s very innovative.” All Members were unanimous and supported the endorsement of the proposed schedule of markets for 2022.