Five Town winners plus an overall county winner will be selected, as part of a county-wide festive ‘shop local’ campaign.

Monaghan Local Enterprise Office and Monaghan Tourism are to join forces on a county-wide campaign, in a bid to encourage shoppers to support local businesses this Christmas.

The #MyMonaghanChristmas campaign will see five town winners crowned ‘Best Christmas Shop Front 2022’ in Carrickmacross, Castleblayney, Ballybay, Monaghan Town and Clones. An overall winner for the county will then be chosen by award-winning travel blogger, Tara Povey of whereistara.com, who will be visiting Monaghan at the end of November.

“We want to encourage retailers to come together and make our towns as festive and welcoming as possible, to give shoppers a real incentive to stay local and support their local shops and businesses this Christmas,” said Cathaoirleach, Cllr. Seán Conlon.

The prize for the town winners will be a hamper of local crafts to the value of €100, whilst the overall winner will receive a voucher valued at €200.

Why Shop Local?

There are many reasons for shoppers to stay local this Christmas, including:

• Every €100 spent locally is worth €500 to the local economy.
• Irish consumers spend €5bn online each year, and two thirds of this spend goes overseas; choose to shop local to stimulate the local economy and keep our towns thriving.
• Shopping locally means a lower carbon footprint and less impact on the environment.

As well as supporting bricks and mortar shops in our towns, the campaign aims to highlight the availability of town vouchers, which can be spent at hundreds of local shops and businesses, as well as over 120 Monaghan businesses that have an online retail presence.

How to Nominate a Festive Christmas Shop Front

Retailers and businesses can get involved by sending a photo of their Christmas shop front to info@leo.monaghancoco.ie, with ‘My Monaghan Christmas’ in the subject line, or by posting a photo on social media (Instagram, Facebook or Twitter) using the hashtag #mymonaghanchristmas. As well as being put forward for the bank of prizes, the best photos will be shared on the LEO and Monaghan Tourism pages in the weeks leading up to Christmas. 

To view our directory of Monaghan online retailers, visit