Winterval Mini Train RIP off

Yep. Just round the block. Down the path (on Quay yesterday Sunday) up Gladstone St & back Georges St. Less than 10mins if that.

Some of stalls are pretty tacky this year. I noticed the Roma Gypsies have one just by entrance to the food yard on O'Connell St. Like others passing I had to do a double take! Nothing much Christmassy on offer either. The wooden stalls on this closed off part of O'Connell St are a bit thrown together & lacks organisation. And mostly food offerings

Like all the other big festivals in the town Winterval had a good/great decade but standards have slipped. Other towns & cities in Ireland have taken the idea, expanded & improved upon it. Waterford has stagnated. The loud disco music pumping out in Arundel Sq is a bit much too imo.

Being designated the European Christmas town of the year seems to have taken the organisers eye of the ball. It all feels a bit haphazard this year. Id like to think they will have a rethink or reboot next year.

Council couldn’t even fix the festoon lighting along the quays. Standards have definitely dropped.

Out of interest what would you do differently? What additions would you add etc?

Also based on yulefest, corkmas, what do they offer that winterval doesn't? What is present at those that could improve winterval?

I agree about the lighting, but would suggest that atrocious weather had at least something to do with it. It has rained for weeks! They should have been repaired. Whether that indicates a drop in standards, which yourself and others seem keen to propagate, is moot. It seems a stretch to me. I venture to suggest again that some people are never happy.

Just came home now from town with family. Lovely atmosphere and a lot of people around. Its a thing for kids and family not for jaded forty something year-olds. It looks to be succeeding at what it does IMHO. I don't know what different you might do, but I would be interested to read your suggestions.

I email the council and councillors each year after Christmas about areas that I feel are lacking Christmas lights, or have poor Christmas lighting.

The more people email the better.

My opinion, O'Connell St, Georges St, Barronstrand st and Michael Street looks great.

The lack of lights in Arundel Square/Peter Street bothers me. I felt the Apple market was poor this year and Patrick Street they were very late in replacing the lighting from previous years.

What is done in O'Connell St is quiet simple, it could surely be easily replicated in other areas.

They have never got the Quay back to what it once was with Christmas lights and I am not sure that they ever will unless there is a competed re-wiring/re-configuration with light on the Quay, as each year the general lighting there seems to have issues after issue.

https://m.independent.ie/regionals/waterford/news/winterval-2025-draws-record-crowds-to-waterford-and-raises-vital-funds-as-festival-comes-to-a-close/a1974772616.html

So the circa 1 million visitor numbers are based on "mobile usage data provided by a third party". Bit disingenuous that? How many of the same people walked through town over the 6 weeks of the festival? I'd like to see a comparison with a normal 6 week period. And at what spot were they capturing the mobile data from.

Yes it was busy at the weekends but it wasn't Oxford Street in London!

I don't think anyone said it was Oxford street in London.

Even it's 1 million Waterford people constantly wondering around town on repeat that is very positive.

The 3rd party is 3 mobile I believe, at least it was in the past.

Your solution seems to be, get rid of winterval and then you will complain about how there nothing on in town boi, "the town is gone to the dogs boi"

Drone show, food stalls, 2 panto's, light show, tonnes of activities for the kids, extremely good Santa's, full streets, people spending money, there has to be some positive in that for you?

Somewhat relevant to this thread but when we visited this year it was absolutley bucketing down for the whole day. No one to blame for that obviously but it just meant that we were running from one thing to the next and to be honest just in and out of shops to get out of the ran, and so was the rest of the town. Felt sorry for the stall holders, no way you would stand and browse. I wonder was there a trick missed for contigency planning for really imclement weather - georges court for argument sake has more empty units than occupied.

Also thought Winterval has gone a bit stale , although i will concede that the weather ruined the atmosphere.

What part of my answer to your basic question can you not understand..you asked about mobile phone data gathering i said its used for footfall nothing more and nothing less so stop putting words in my mouth..it is just one aspect of data gathering that large retailers use to evaluate whether to open a store or not

As indeed I was.

You could also ask. Why has Penny's, Shaws, Pandora, Elverys all completed retrofits lately.

Why have jack and Jones located here.

Why are Georges count planning a revamp, surely the retailers here have seen an increase in footfall to do the above?

I agree with your point on lacking major retailers but perhaps things are about to change.

Planning 2560939

Proposed Alterations include: Removal of existing mall linking Barronstrand Street and Great George’s Street resulting in an increase in commercial floor area of 340 Sq.m. Internal expansion of Unit 1 (Phelan’s Shoes). Expansion of unit 19 (Boots Pharmacy) including amalgamation of internal units 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, & 20 on level 1. Expansion of unit 21 (No.9 Café) on level 2 including the amalgamation and change of use of a portion of unit 19 (Boots Pharmacy) to café use. Expansion of Unit 21 (No.9 Café) storage area on level 3 including the amalgamation of unit 19 (Boots Pharmacy) storage area. Alterations and change of use to units 25 & 26 on level 2 to provide 3 no. new units 25A (class 2 use), 25B (service retail) & 26 (service retail). Alterations to units 22 & 23 on level 3 to include the creation of 2 additional units 30 & 31 making a total of 4 no. units at level 3. 2 No. facades, at No. 9 Barronstrand Street (Boots) and No.’s 26-28 Great George’s Street, are included on Waterford City & County Council Development Plan 2022-2028, Appendix 9: Record of Protected Structures: RPS No: WA730668 (NIAH No: 22501087), (Boots Front Façade Only). RPS No: WA730805 (NIAH No: 22501094), 26-28 Great George's Street (Façade Only).

Thanks. I'll remember that for 2026. Waterford is indeed hallowed ground to me and Ill stand up for it. I have also acknowledged clearly over many posts the deficits the area suffers from. Your posts are better when you are offering clear suggestions rather than just plain criticism of everything. Negativity is pervasive and destructive and I venture to suggest we have a tad too much of it locally.