9 Douzelage partners turn green for St Patrick’s Day
Despite current worldwide circumstances, 9 partner towns in the Douzelage Town Twinning Network joined with Tourism Ireland’s #GlobalGreening initiative for the Irish national holiday, St Patrick’s Day on March 17th.
The initiative, now in its 10th year worldwide was embraced by the Douzelage European Town Twinning organisation which was established in 1991. Landmarks in partner towns in Germany (Bad Kötzting), Sweden (Oxelösund), Slovenia (Škofja Loka), Austria (Judenburg), Luxembourg (Niederanven), Altea (Spain), the Czech Republic (Sušice), Cyprus (Agros) and the Netherlands (Meerssen) were turned green.
The project amongst Douzelage partner towns was coordinated by the Irish partner Bundoran and supported by Tourism Ireland. Shane Smyth of Discover Bundoran said ‘it was a St Patrick’s Day like no other for us here in Ireland. On what would normally have been one of the biggest days of the year we are thankful to our Douzelage partner towns for their solidarity in lighting their landmarks in green. We look forward to a more normal celebration next year. I would also like to thank Tourism Ireland for their support and encouragement during the planning of this project.’
President of Douzelage Annigje Kruytbosch added ‘little did we know when we were planning the greening project how different things would turn out. It’s at times like this that the solidarity of our organisation and indeed Europe as a whole comes to the fore. It was a disappointing day for our Irish partners but we look forward in anticipation to next year!’
More on Douzelage can be found at www.douzelage.eu
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