THE SUPERVALU TIDYTOWNS competition is to return in 2021 after not taking place this year due to Covid-19 restrictions.

The TidyTowns competition, which is held annually nationwide in a usual year, awards local towns and villages for their outdoor environments.

The Department of Rural and Community Development, which organises the competition, has confirmed that the competition will proceed next year.

Around the country, there are almost 1,000 TinyTown groups working on projects and initiatives in their community.

The competition will take place again next year with some potential alterations, according to Minister for Rural and Community Development Heather Humphreys.

Humphreys said that the decision to cancel the competition earlier this year had been taken “in line with public health advice and in collaboration with the competition sponsor Supervalu”.

The decision to cancel this year’s competition was made in April, while Covid-19 infections were at a high and strict restrictions were in place.

“Many of our TidyTowns volunteers and adjudicators were very limited in what they could do earlier in the year,” Humphreys said.

“As we have moved through different stages of living alongside the pandemic, the TidyTowns volunteers have demonstrated that they can continue to do some of their activities while still following all of the necessary public health precautions,” she said.

“We may need to alter and adapt our approach to delivering the competition next year, given the on-going constraints posed by Covid-19, but we can retain the ethos of the competition that has stood the test of time so well,” Humphreys said.

The minister said that any changes to the competition would be shared with TidyTown groups “well in advance”.

“My Department is currently considering the format the competition could take next year, having regard to restrictions on gatherings at each of the five levels of the Government’s Plan for Living with Covid-19, and the paramount need to protect the health and wellbeing of volunteers and adjudicators,” she said.

In 2019, the competition, which first took place in 1958, received a record 924 entries.