A jubilant crowd last night welcomed home the members of Westport Tidy Towns committee from the awards ceremony in Dublin. A party was held in the Castlecourt Hotel to celebrate the town winning this year's competition.
Warm tributes were paid to the chairwoman of the Westport Tidy Towns Committee, Ms Bridie Moran, and her colleagues, Ms Elsie Higgins, Ms Lily Cunningham and others, for their work.
Westport's designation under the Seaside Resort Scheme in 1996 is widely credited as the major turning point which made the town attractive to investors.
In five years several hotels have opened, dozens of new pubs and restaurants have been developed, and from a position of not having a swimming pool the town now has five. Tourism has boomed, particularly in July and August when the population nearly trebles to around 15,000.
The town is divided into two distinct parts, the town centre and Westport Quay. Straddling these two areas is Westport House and Zoo which draw thousands of visitors each year. Such attractions, in addition to a championship golf course, have fuelled Westport's popularity among people buying holiday homes.
According to a local auctioneer, Mr Peter Tuohy, "The town itself is seen as a nice town to walk through. It is tidy and clean, so the efforts of the Tidy Towns committee is paying off in that respect, and it has picked up an awful lot of conference business and weekend traffic in recent years."
The proprietor of the Towers Bar and Restaurant, Westport Quay, Mr Colm Cronin, foresees an even brighter future for the town if Government sanction is given for the development of the harbour area to its full potential as a proper marina.
"The Minister for the Marine must now implement an EIS on the feasibility study carried out for the development of the area which has 950 square metres of a harbour, but which needs to be dredged and upgraded. It is a fantastic asset just waiting to be tapped," he said.
Westport is popular with young visitors. A local taxi-driver, Mr Christy Cawley, who ferries many of them about, observed: "For young people, Westport is the `in town'. Everybody seems to enjoy it and they all keep coming back. It's so laid back here, and people are so friendly."