Gala celebrations in Portaferry

Gala celebrations in Portaferry

29 July 2020

THE annual Portaferry Gala was celebrated in fine style last  week — despite the coronavirus lockdown restrictions.

While it was different to previous year’s successful events, townspeople were determined to mark the occasion with fun and colour — which they shared via social media with people from across the globe.

While the float parade was not able to be held, there were themed parties in streets and housing estates throughout the town.

A spokesperson for the organisers said: “The local and global community of Portaferry continued to show how strong spirited we are and Covid-19 didn’t get in the way of that. We have a wonderful community spirit and that was seen throughout the week.

“The committee had a difficult decision to cancel the traditional celebrations a few months ago, but we knew that the community would come together regardless of what we prepared.

“The theory of the great gadget gala was for people to enjoy celebrations and events whilst being safe. This was a success. It can be seen through our online interaction rate which had entries across the globe from Australia to the USA.”

The spokesperson also everyone who gave their support and praised the organising committee for their work in such unusual territory.

“There are too many people to thank individually but you all know who you are, especially the businesses in Portaferry who gave fantastic prizes and resources to enable us to provide token prizes for our events as we did not have council and government funding this year,” added the spokesperson.

“I think we can all agree that when we work together great things can happen. Now the committee will enjoy a well-earned break and pause the Zoom meetings after their tireless work to make this week a success.”