Tidy Towns 2023: Pride of place, a bit of competition, but mostly a festival of community spirit 

The local heroes from 887 towns, villages, and urban areas are celebrating tonight as — win, lose, or draw — they are recognised at the annual Tidy Towns awards ceremony

Mary Kennedy told the crowd in Croke Park for the Tidy Towns awards that the anticipation and atmosphere at the annual event reminds her of Christmas Eve.  File picture: Cormac Duffy

There’s a real air of anticipation to the Tidy Towns awards ceremony.

This year’s awards ceremony, the 65th, was the first to be held at GAA headquarters at Croke Park. It saw more than 600 volunteers from the 887 entrant small towns and villages — five more than 12 months previously, and one of the highest numbers in the competition’s history — gathered to cheer on their own and applaud each other’s efforts to make Ireland a prettier place.