The first of Dublin’s Christmas lights will be lit this weekend.
It marks the start of the festive season here in the city with the switch being flicked on Grafton Street on Sunday and Henry Street the following Thursday.
98FM's Cooper and Luke and Hermitage Green will help turn on the lights on Sunday 13th on Grafton Street. The event starts at 6pm.
While on Thursday November 17th, The Riptide Movement are headlining the switching on of the Henry Street lights at 5pm.
There's new lights going up on Henry Street this year which are more energy efficient and brighter.
Here are 12 things you didn't know about #DublinatChristmas.
- 30 streets in Dublin will be decorated with Christmas lights, stretching over 4.5 kilometres
- It takes 20 people working through the night, over 4 weeks and 200 hours to completely erect all the lights
- Each and every single bulb and fixture will be tested by the DublinTown team
- The lights will be illuminated for over 1,000 hours from November 13th– January 7th
- There are 47,350 individual light bulbs on Grafton Street alone
- There are over 1,000,000 individual light bulbs hung across the city
- 20 Dublin City Trees will be decorated with lights across Parnell Street and Liffey Street
- Over 10,000 light bulbs will decorate 2 trees on Liffey Street
- 160 crossovers and 26 wall mounts will be used
- Over 150,000 light bulbs will adorn the 3 spectacular light curtains on on Wicklow Street, Andrew Street and Johnson Court
- 25 million people will walk under the Christmas Lights in Dublin City Centre this year alone
Dublin Town have also told shoppers in the city this year that they're bringing back their free bag drop service. It opens up on November 23rd and will be at two locations - the former Clerys entrance on North Earl Street and St. Stephen's Green Shopping Centre.
Dublin Town's Richard Guiney says the festive period is worth €350 million to the city's economy and he's not worried of an exodus of shoppers up to Newry as he feels they'll spend their money locally.
Check out the full programme for Dublin at Christmas here.
