Editorial: Tidy Towns, county final delights, and a weekend to Savour! - Kilkenny Live

What a weekend it has been for Kilkenny, with fantastic scenes on the hurling field, at the festival marketplace, and even more brilliant results in the national Tidy Towns competition.

Savour Kilkenny food festival once again drew tens of thousands into the city for a busy three and a half days of festival fun. The food market on the Parade was a beehive of activity on Saturday and Sunday, with a reduced market and dog-friendly events on the Monday proving a perfect Bank Holiday booster.

Many of the tasting and dining events, demonstrations and dinners also sold out well in advance, with huge interest from foodies and talented aspiring chefs. Even the inclement weather throughout Sunday didn’t deter the crowds from turning out in their droves to sample some of what was on offer.

The other big showpiece to draw the crowds on Sunday was the junior and senior hurling county finals at Nowlan Park.
Huge congratulations are in order for county champions the Shamrocks, who triumphed over O’Loughlin Gaels. It saw the club secure a record 21st county title — no mean feat given it only formally came into existence in 1972.

Congratulations also to Barrow Rangers on their victory over O’Loughlins. They deservedly won their first Kilkenny junior hurling crown in some 35 years.
We also congratulate the might Danesfort, who were recently crowned intermediate county champions.

TIDY TOWNS
Finally, towns and villages right across the county have reason to celebrate with a fantastic showing in the Tidy Towns competition.

While we missed out on the overall crown, many local areas bagged special honours and category awards, and nearly all managed to secure an extra few points on their results from last year.

Credit is due to great work by local volunteers, businesses, groups and Kilkenny County Council. Well done all.