A panel of judges adjudicating the winner of the European Capital of Culture 2020 visited Limerick city on Tuesday.
Thousands of people joined in the celebrations at Limerick’s largest street party with hundreds of volunteers working to ensure the judges saw the best that the city and county have to offer.
Other nominated cities in Ireland include Galway and The Three Sisters which is comprised of Kilkenny, Waterford and Wexford. On Friday the victorious city will be announced and will join the winning city in Croatia in sharing the prestigious title.
Professor Don Barry, Chairman of the Limerick 2020 Bid for European Capital of Culture, Steering Committee and President of University of Limerick commended the people of the city for their efforts during the judging process.
“Limerick put on a truly wonderful and engaging show today to demonstrate how much capacity exists in and around the city to deliver an imaginative and engaging European Capital of Culture in 2020. I am so proud of how the entire community responded to this challenge to impress on our visiting judges that Limerick has the collective inspiration, passion, drive and resources to bring our story to Europe and bring Europe to Limerick for uniquely memorable cultural experiences in 2020”.
Judges visited Galway on Monday and will examine the bid from the Three Sisters on Wednesday. According to a spokesperson for the western bid, “It couldn’t have gone better. The judges did a tour of our programme for the City of Culture and met artists and arts providers and visited many of the attractions that we hope will clinch the title for Galway.”
All photos by Brian Arthur
