In Temple Bar, athletes, musicians, sportsmen, dancers and designers were abroad. They were headed towards St Michael and John's Church where the first bells in post-emancipation Ireland pealed, according to Annette Nugent, of Temple Bar Properties.
This week, the church, on Exchange Street Lower in Temple Bar, hummed to a different beat as models and break-dancers paraded on the catwalk to show off a new collection designed by Samantha Mumba for Reebok.
Ger Whelan, of Jerry Fish and the Mudbug Club, breezed by with his newly minted first single, True Friends, which features members of An Emotional Fish. For those who loved his Be Yourself album, the singer/songwriter will be performing in Whelan's on Friday, December 20th.
Ireland's rugby players, Denis Hickie and Girvan Dempsey (with his girlfriend, Anne-Marie Craig), taking a break from training, came along. They are playing for Leinster Lions against Montferrand in France today.
Designer Claire Garvey closed her studio in Cow's Lane to come, along with Kasandra O'Connell, head of the Irish Film Archive, who was taking a break from work, where plans are underway to celebrate the 10th birthday of the Irish Film Board next year.
Zita Griffen, of TASCQ (Traders in the Area Supporting the Cultural Quarter), was getting in the mood to celebrate in the church with more than 600 people from Temple Bar at a major party for the Temple Bar traders and residents the next night.
But Ollie Cunningham, a hairdresser with Pzazz, was only there for one thing: to see the singer herself, Samanth Mumba, who stole the show.