Call to make Woodquay market a weekly Galway fixture

A call has been made to have the Woodquay country market made a ‘weekly fixture’ in the retail life of Galway City, after a positive response to a boom sales day there on Saturday.

The weekend’s market was part of the third Galway Food Festival, an event that ran from Holy Thursday through until the Bank Holiday Monday, attracting a record crowd of 70,000 people, according to the organisers.

The Mayor of Galway, Cllr Padraig Conneely, said that given the success of the country market in Woodquay on Saturday, there seemed to be overwhelming support for such an event to be held on a weekly basis.

“The general public flocked in their droves to the Woodquay country market on Saturday and they really loved the setting and the atmosphere down there.

 “It is a beautiful part of our city and the quality of food on offer was second to none. There seems to be general agreement among the traders, the Woodquay residents and public, that this market should become a regular event,” said Mayor Conneely.

He said that over the coming weeks, he would give whatever support that he could to all the stakeholders with a view to making the Woodquay country market a regular weekly event.

Meanwhile, up to 15,000 people per day visited the Festival Village at Spanish Arch and an additional 10,000 visitors walked through the Woodquay Country Market on Saturday. The Moycullen Friday Market and the Galway Market drew large crowds and in-house citywide events attracted up to 15,000 visitors.

Organisers said that participants were delighted with the huge crowd attendance over the five days, boosted by sunny weather, and some traders even ran out of stock at the end of busy days.

Read more in today’s Connacht Sentinel