The Winterval festival will celebrate its 10th birthday this year.
This year there will be plenty to see and do. The festival organisers are planning the ultimate 10thbirthday celebration with a brand new special event happening each weekend of the festival – ensuring a 10th birthday celebration opportunity for everyone.
The new yet-to-be-revealed special festival experiences will be on offer in addition to the festival’s firm favourites including the Waterford Illuminates, Ice Skating, the Winterval Cabin Market, live music gigs and lots more.
John Grubb of EveryEvent and Trevor Darmody of Waterford Academy of Music and Art are the dynamic duo behind the magic of Winterval 2022 as co-directors of the festival.
"We know that Ireland’s Christmas Festival was founded on the heritage of our beautiful and ancient city and we are excited to celebrate Waterford at every opportunity during the 2022 festival," the two said.
The multi-award-winning EveryEvent is an event design and production company proudly from Waterford.
John has over 25 years of experience in event management, working on theatrical and festival productions all over the world.
Having played a key role in the production of Winterval since its beginning, John and the EveryEvent team have a comprehensive understanding of the people who live and work here, visit the City and County and operate their businesses in the region.
Trevor Darmody has been running the Waterford Academy of Music & Arts, better known as WAMA since 2004 and TheatreBox Stage School since 2017.
During this time, he has also worked as a festival music programmer for Winterval since its inception 10 years ago, as well as for Waterford Harvest Festival, Spraoi and the St. Patrick’s Day Festival.
The festival’s head of business development, sponsorship and brand partnerships is Teresanne O'Reilly of The Forest, a brand strategy company that works with consumer brands all over Ireland helping them to reach new customers and develop long-lasting customer relationships.
Her forte is developing creative and engaging brand experiences that leave a lasting impression on the consumer.
Teresanne is also a Waterford native. She is passionate about Waterford City, its potential and the success of the City's events and festivals. She has volunteered on the Winterval committee since 2015.
The man behind the magic of Santa Claus at Winterval is the experienced event creator and founder of The Coach House, Craig Dee.
The Winterval Santa experience will be overflowing with festive cheer. 'Santa's Central Station' will be located right in the heart of Waterford City Centre at Michael Street where a band of merry elves will lead little ones to the door of Santa's magical cabin and families can meander through Santa's City Centre installation, taking pictures with photo scenes along the way.
Santa will host little guests all the way through the festival until December 23rd, 2022. Tickets for Santa’s Central Station are now available to pre-book on the Winterval website.
Making the festival magic happen online is 22-year-old Jordan Casey. Jordan is a well-known software developer and entrepreneur from Waterford.
Since the age of 9, Jordan has built a number of diverse technology startups from chart-topping mobile games to educational platforms. He has also worked over the last 10 years as a public speaker, speaking at over 300 international events concerning areas of youth entrepreneurship and education.
Having developed the first iteration of the Winterval app in 2013, Jordan is no stranger to the event and this year is working on delivering a brand new version of the website and an interactive Winterval mobile game.
Returning to Winterval this year having worked with and launched the festival when it all began a decade ago is Ann Power, the founder and director of Powerhouse PR.
A native of Waterford she has worked in the PR industry for over 20 years. She is an expert at curating events and brand communications for luxury brands, corporate organisations and international events along with launching many a brand new business or product successfully onto the marketplace.
Her innovative communications campaigns have won many awards over the years. Ann is excited to showcase the very best that Waterford has to offer and ensuring that the Winterval message is heard by national and international audiences.
The festival team is supported by the Winterval committee which includes Lisa Grant, Brian Tynan, Denis Carroll, Emma Haran, Finn Bropy, Gerald Hurley, Lisa Fitzgerald, Tina Darrer and Tommie Ryan.
For the 10th year of Ireland’s Christmas Festival, there will be plenty to see and do. The festival organisers are planning the ultimate 10thbirthday celebration with a brand new special event happening each weekend of the festival – ensuring a 10th birthday celebration opportunity for everyone.
The new yet-to-be-revealed special festival experiences will be on offer in addition to the festival’s firm favourites including the Waterford Illuminates, Ice Skating, the Winterval Cabin Market, live music gigs and lots more.
Further details of the 2022 Winterval Festival programme will be revealed over the coming weeks.
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