Archive for July, 2011

Our Milk Market in Limerick City is one of Ireland’s best attended markets, which has been operating since 1852. Over 500,000 visits are made each year to our markets.  Major redevelopment works during 2009/2010 has transformed into an all-weather market, with larger markets happening every Friday, Saturday, Sunday and at other times.

If you have a product or products that are SPECIAL, of HIGH QUALITY, and typically produced locally, and in the following categories, our shoppers are likely to be interested in you and this presents you with a business opportunity.

Examples of the type of product include, but are not limited to:

• Fruit, Vegetables and Salads, Meat, Fish and Seafood, Dairy, Bakery & Confectionery, Eateries & Food to Go, Preserves (jams, chutneys), Speciality Foods and Beverages.
• Horticulture, Arts, Crafts, Collectables, Antiques, Bric-a-Brac, Fashions, Toys, Health & Beauty.

Our famous Saturday market is our most popular with food and horticultural produce dominant – it is more difficult to secure a slot at this market.  Our Friday market, incorporating the ‘Friday Flea’ market, is growing in appeal and attendances and there some available slots to qualifying traders.  Friday is a market where anything goes – arts, crafts, collectables, antiques, retro, bric-a-brac, fashions, health & beauty, food, horticulture and more. Sundays is a market that that appeals to families in the afternoon, so is well-suited to traders whose produce are likely to appeal to families and couples. Sunday morning is a chill-out time, with free music. Increasingly there are special events and entertainment happening at the Friday and Sunday markets and at other times which helps attract greater numbers of shoppers.

If you are interested in trading at the market or in testing it, contact us. We will advise you whether or not your produce is suited to the market and what opportunities exists. Email us traders@MilkMarketLimerick.ie or call us at 061 214 782

Watch a short clip of the Coronas play the first major gig at the Milk Market, 1,500 enjoyed a brilliant event in a brilliant new all-weather venue.  The Coronas are a Meteor award–winning Irish four-piece Rock-Indie-Alternative band with a huge following.

Speed-watch Ireland’s largest tensile structure building in just 46 seconds!  The tensile canopy that covers the market weighs 1.8 tonnes and the steel centre-column fives tonnes. If only the delivery of the development, which won the prestigious ‘Public Choice Award’ at the RIAI Irish Architecture Awards 2011, had been this easy!.

Imelda May is one of Ireland’s most talented Irish vocalists and musician and winner of the Best Female Artist of the Year award at the 2009 Meteor Awards.  Over 1,500 fans heard her play the Milk Market. Here is some footage of the day.

This video, which captures the first day in the life of the new Milk Market Limerick, on  June 19, 2010, was provided courtesy of the “I Love Limerick” Team of Richard Lynch and Miriam Garcia Mortell. Visit their website at www.ILoveLimerick.com for wonderful insights into Limerick – The City they clearly love.

We’re so pleased the Milk Market Limerick has won the prestigious ‘Public Choice Award’ at the RIAI Irish Architecture Awards 2011. The award was presented to Healy Partners Architects at a special awards ceremony in Dublin on July 11. Thank you to all who voted for us!

It’s always nice to be recognised and so we are particularly pleased that it was the ‘Public Choice Award’. Congratulations to Healy Partners Architects and to all our own team involved in bringing the  project to fruition.”

Our vision was to enhance the historic market, weather-proofing it so that it would work better as a markets and event venue, all year-round. The design solution of creating Ireland’s largest tensile structure to cover the courtyard, while still retaining an outdoor atmosphere, has been transformational.

The new Milk Market is open just over a year and, since then, we have been attracting increasing numbers of visitors to a wider range of markets and events. In addition to extending the number of markets from one to three per week, and almost doubling attendances, we have successfully staged concerts, recitals, craft fairs, fashion shows, family-fun events, product launches, charity events and more, all adding to the vibrancy of the City and supporting a broad base of business, including an increasing number of market traders.

There were 134 events vying for the 2011 ‘Public Choice’ Architectural Award with 38 projects short-listed, including the magnificent Aviva Stadium in Dublin. While we are honoured, we are not surprised that the Milk Market won out in a ‘Public Choice Award’, capturing 33% of the votes cast.  In a very tangible way you have been “voting for” the Milk Market since it opened, by visiting it, by revisiting it, by staging events and by positively spreading the word.  We appreciate it and will never take your support for granted.

We were delighted to see that Flagmount cheesemongers Helen and Daniel Goormans received a welcome boost when their business, “The Flying Cheese Brigade” was named Best Market Stall of the Year 2011 by the Irish Organisation for Market and Street Traders, a membership organisation for market and street traders in Ireland.

Helen and Daniel sell their own cheese, pates and jams as well as importing cheeses directly from cheese producers all over Europe, which they then offer from their stall at the Limerick Milk Market on Saturdays. The Flying Cheese Brigade carries over 65 different cheese varieties. The couple are both originally from Lier near Antwerp in Belgium and settled at Lakefield Farmhouse in Flagmount Co.Clare 16 years ago.

If you are interested in supporting the Milk Market Limerick in return for valuable profiling, please let us know.  We would love to hear from you.

The Milk Market Limerick is an important project for Limerick City and the most visited attraction outside of Dublin. It supports a social gathering and trading space that can be enjoyed by Limerick residents, visitors and by the local business community. It also helps sustain a broad-base of businesses, stimulates trade in the city, champions the concept of ‘green’ and adds a great buzz to the City.

Our ambition is to have it play an even role in the life of the city – more markets, more visitors, more traders, more and better produce, more events and more activities. Sponsorship can help us accelerate our efforts and give you valuable profiling in return.

The sponsorship opportunities include:

• Sponsorship of special markets or events that either we or you can organise.
• Sponsorship  of specific market days
• Sponsorship of entertainment at one or more markets e.g. the ‘Summer Sessions”
• Sponsorship of aspects of the market, including ‘Market House’

In return for sponsorship we happy to discuss profiling opportunities, reaching segments of the 600,000 visitors who spend time at the Milk Market each year.

For further information contact David O’Brien, Market Manager, for the details. Tel. 061 214782 or email dobrien@MilkMarketLimerick.ie