Council to ‘reimagine’ Christmas festivities in Cork

The Ferris wheel on Grand Parade, Cork City, for the Glow festival at Christmas. Picture: Darragh Kane

Christmas in Cork City is set to be reimagined with a new vision as the council is set to spend €200,000 on this year’s festive programme. 

The fee for festival direction and programme services for Christmas 2023 will go towards the aim of building on the annual Glow Cork Christmas celebration which Cork City Council said has an annual audience of over 100,000 people.

“The much-loved annual event is centred around a free family-friendly festive installation in Bishop Lucey Park and included Christmas food markets, Ferris wheel and funfair elements and musical performances in the heart of Cork City,” it said.

“With the redevelopment of Bishop Lucey Park in 2023, Cork City Council now seeks the opportunity to reimagine the city’s Christmas offering.”

In February, Bishop Lucey Park closed to the public for a number of weeks ahead of its multi-million euro redevelopment, which is a key feature of the wider Grand Parade Quarter regeneration project.

The redeveloped park will include improved access to the historic city wall, a new pavilion and plaza for hosting events, improved access and seating for all and a striking new tower to mark the eastern entrance.

However, there has been a mixed response to the design, with some critics arguing it features too much concrete and paving. The council has said the park redevelopment is integral to improving the quality of amenities in the city as a whole.

Last year, Glow was staged over four weekends at Bishop Lucey Park in the run-up to Christmas.

It was a low-key affair last November as Cork was lit up for Christmas with City Hall pulling the plug on a large-scale public lighting-up ceremony amid crowd control concerns. It meant that crews ascended ladders earlier than anticipated to flick the switches on as 7km of LED lights shone along St Patrick’s St, Oliver Plunkett St and the Grand Parade.

Festival facelift

It is clear from tender documents recently issued by Cork City Council that it is planning a facelift of the Glow festival this year with a draft programme set to be finalised by early August.

It is expected that features such as the Ferris wheel, food markets, and family-friendly events will be retained and expanded.

Listed under the ‘objectives’ of the new programme, the council said it wants to provide “festive, free, family-orientated and accessible programming”.

It must also “animate the public domain and use the streetscape in innovative ways to engage the people of Cork, creating a festive atmosphere in the city”.

Attracting footfall to the city and supporting local businesses and arts/ cultural organisations should also form key parts of the programme, according to the council.

“[They must] develop a high-quality Christmas programme of in-person events to run in the City centre, including for example installations, pop-up performances, street art etc, and may be both indoor and outdoor,” it said.

The council said it will reserve the right to extend the contract for delivery of the festival by a further two years.

This year’s Glow Christmas festival is set to kick off in November.