Minister Heather Humphreys has assured local groups involved in the SuperValu TidyTowns competition that next year’s competition will go ahead despite Covid-19.
A record 924 entries were received in 2019 to the SuperValu TidyTowns competition, but like many other events, the contest was cancelled this year due to the pandemic.
“The decision to cancel the competition this year was taken in line with public health advice and in collaboration with the competition sponsor SuperValu,” said Minister Humphreys.
“This decision was made in April during the first period of severe restrictions when essentially the advice to everybody was to stay at home.”
However since then, the TidyTowns volunteers have demonstrated that they can continue to do some of their activities while still following all of the necessary public health precautions.
The Department of Rural and Community Development is in regular contact with the close to 1,000 TidyTowns groups around the country, through social media and through the monthly TidyTowns newsletter.
Looking ahead to next year, the Minister assured all of the TidyTowns groups and their volunteers, that there will be a SuperValu TidyTowns competition in 2021.
“We may need to alter and adapt our approach to delivering the competition next year, given the on-going constraints posed by COVID, but we can retain the ethos of the competition that has stood the test of time so well,” she said.
