Christmas markets cancelled due to Covid concerns

Plans to hold the artisan and craft markets in Larne, Carrickfergus and Ballymena as part of broader plans by the council to support town centre recovery have been scrapped.

The council had commissioned Urban Market NI to manage the markets due to be held in all three locations during the run-up to Christmas.

This week the council announced that its group party leaders had taken the decision to cancel these events.

On Monday evening, Alliance Councillor Lauren Gray had asked what measures were to be put in place and if a company would be brought in to manage the events.

Cllr Gray said: “given what happened in Lisburn at the weekend” and asked what measures would be put in place “if we do feel we are being overrun”.

Commenting on the cancellation, she said: “This will have been an extremely disappointing decision for all involved, but in our current situation I believe it was the right one.

“We witnessed what happened in other towns when people, looking for some sense of normality, descended in mass crowds to specialised events – we simply can’t run the risk of that happening in Mid and East Antrim.

“At the recent Council meeting I raised these concerns – that in any other year these would be fantastic events, but that Council had to be consistent in its approach.

“We have already seen all other Christmas events move online, yet the proposed timings of these markets, especially in Carrick, came extremely close to the relaxation of restrictions allowing for larger family bubbles to mix.  I know that is something many are looking forward to.

“All the warnings are that we could be approaching the toughest wave yet in our fight against Covid, but there are things we can all do – limiting contacts, social distancing, wearing a mask and good hand hygiene can make a difference.”

A spokesperson for Mid and East Antrim Borough Council said: “We are increasingly concerned by the number of positive Covid-19 cases across Northern Ireland.

“Within this context, our Group Party Leaders  agreed to cancel the planned Christmas markets in Ballymena, Larne and Carrickfergus and encourage everybody to  shop local and avoid unnecessary travel.

“We are disappointed that the markets will now not take place but the health and well-being of all our citizens and doing all we can to suppress the spread of the virus remains our priority.

“As we approach Christmas, we continue to appeal to everybody to stay safe, shop local and take care of yourself and others.

“We continue to fully support our retailers who will reopen from this Friday in line with the end of the two-week circuit breaker and we commend them for all their hard work to ensure the ultimate safety and protection provision for citizens in the days and weeks ahead.”

Michelle Weir, Local Democracy Reporter

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