Continuing our Review of 2016, here’s some of the stories we brought you in November…
• THERE was sad news in early November when the body of 70-year-old Jim Keane from Lixnaw was recovered from the River Feale during the search for .
Mr Keane, a local farmer, had been missing for a number of days. after his tractor was sighted on in the River Brick near his farmland. It was thought that his tractor slid into the river.
• A PERIOD house in Barrow was sold at auction in Cork and it went for well above the minimum asking price.
Barrow House went to auction at The Imperial Hotel, Cork, with an AMV of €275,000. However the property which overlooks Tralee Bay eventually sold for €355,000 at the DNG auction.
• Kerry picked up just the one GAA/GPA All-Star as, Paul Geaney, got the nod for his first award.
The Dingle man and three other Kerry players – Killian Young and Paul Murphy and Shane Enright – were nominated for the All-Stars.
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• DESCENDANTS of two families that dominated the history of Tralee – the Fitzgeralds and the Dennys – were present at a two-day conference at Siamsa Tíre.
Former Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Dick Spring officially opened the Tralee 800 Conference and gave the keynote address.
Tom Denny of the Denny family and Anthony Fitzgerald, a descendant of the Munster Geraldines spoke at the conference in The Rose Hotel.
• A ST Brendan’s Park woman collected a national award for her work on Radio Kerry’s agricultural show, Agritime.
Aisling O’Brien, who presents the show, collected the Best Radio Programme or Story category award in the 2016 Agricultural Journalism Awards.
• THERE was good news for shoppers when it was revealed the annual free parking period for Christmas was returning. It was to take effect from 1pm daily from December 5 to January 7.
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• A LOCAL business made a presentation to Tralee Municipal District councillors which could see the canal area become the focus of a major tourism centre.
An ‘Urban Beach’, kayaking, seafood trails, raft racing and much more were suggested as possibilities for development, by Michaela and John Edwards, who run a local adventure activity business, Wild Water Adventures.
• TRALEE’S Ultan Dillane made his first start for Ireland against Canada and he was awesome. So much so, that he was awarded Man Of The Match in the game which finished 52-21 to the home team.
Ultan managed to get a second-half try during the evening and was taken off in the 73rd minute in a superb performance.
• THE National Circus of Ireland Festival was another great success in town.
Organiser Con Horgan was delighted with the festival and the attendances at workshops.
“It was our most successful year ever. We had really high numbers at the events. The Falcon show on Saturday night in the Square was beautiful with acrobats and fire-breathing. The four-day convention was also well attended and we had a new space in the Tralee Gymnastics Hall which was incredible,” said Con.
• KERRY County Council commenced works on the provision of new traffic signals at the junction of Denny Street and The Mall in Tralee, as well as upgrading the signals at the junction of Ivy Terrace and Prince’s Quay near the Dominican church.
The works were scheduled to be completed by the end of November in advance of the busy Christmas shopping period.
• A LOCAL student and TraleeToday.ie columnist won an award at the prestigious .eu Web Awards for her website.
Founder of teentimes.eu, Zoe O’Connor, is a leaving certificate student in Brookfield College in Tralee, a well known blogger and YouTuber and also writes a weekly column for TraleeToday.ie.
Her website was awarded the Special Commendation Award on the night.
• A COMPANY based in the Spa won an E-Commerce Award at the inaugural Realex Payments E-Commerce Awards held at the RDS in Dublin.
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Purchase.ie based in the Spa, Tralee was one of 11 companies shortlisted as a finalist as best Micro E-Commerce Business in Ireland and won the award.
Purchase.ie who specialise largely in the sale of products aimed at helping customers reduce energy bills and other domestic charges was selected as winner of the award.
• IT was announced Austin Stack Park will host two Allianz National League football clashes involving Kerry next spring, including the glamour tie with the All-Ireland champs.
Tralee will also be the venue for a clash with the All-Ireland finalists Mayo in February. They will welcome Dublin on March 18 which is sure to make for a busy St Patricks weekend in the county capital.
• THERE was a massive crowd in the Square for the traditional switching on of the Christmas lights.
After all the excitement of the CH parade, there was still a huge crowd around in the Square as Andrew Morrissey of Radio Kerry got the crowd in festive mood before Kieran Donaghy and his daughter Lola Rose were on hand to switch the lights on.
