Mullingar 'lights up' for Patrick’s Day Festival 2024
The centre of Mullingar was already lively late on Saturday afternoon, as the WinterFest Christmas market drew people in, when the massive noise of tractor and trunk sirens sounded from the west.
They came from the scores of vehicles taking part in the Christmas Truck and Tractor Light Up parade, a fundraiser organised by the St Patrick’s Day Festival Committee.
The money generated is being split equally between the children’s ward at Mullingar hospital and the running costs of St Patrick’s Day Festival 2024.
The vehicles began at Forest Park and passed through the centre of Mullingar as far as the Dublin Bridge.
It was some spectacle, enhanced by the loud and cheering beeps and the colourful light arrangements on the tractors and lorries.
The previous afternoon the Christmas market had opened at Cafferys on Mount Street, and it continued throughout Saturday and Sunday.
Traders reported brisk business, and there was good food, from vendors on the street outside, and plenty of entertainment as well, from the Elves Workshop to the games stand, where the Elves Josh Scanlon, Daragh Daly and Shane Cannon, CBS students from Mullingar, were on duty and working hard.
The Christmas markets are open again next weekend, December 16 and 17.