A magical holiday story of balloons, BBQs and mum's new bob hairdo

IT was rather ironic that when Norwegian Linda Taule released a green balloon in Dunmanway on Monday evening, it ended up getting caught in a tree next door. 

Those in attendance at a farewell BBQ for her family in The Southern Bar certainly saw the funny side to it and realised the journey for this particular balloon was definitely over. 

It certainly wasn’t going to be reaching the dizzy heights of the balloon released by Dunmanway Chamber of Commerce last Christmas – that ended up 2,500km away in Norway. 

It’s been a magical story of how one balloon and the family who found it ended up holidaying in Dunmanway with the help of sponsorship from numerous businesses in the town and beyond. 

Sadly for the Taule family, their holiday came to an end on Wednesday but Linda, sporting a new bob hairstyle, thanks to Norma’s Hair Salon – said they had a fantastic holiday. 

‘This holiday has been amazing and we couldn’t have imagined how it was going to turn out. We never expected such a holiday and the people of Dunmanway to have been so welcoming and warm. Meeting everyone and getting to know them was definitely one of the highlights of our holiday,’ Linda told The Southern Star.

‘The children loved it here too, and they’ve made some great friends and don’t want to go home. They even have difficulty remembering all the activities they’ve been involved in.’

Linda, who works as nurse, and electrician Vigo, who is studying construction back home, both said they will definitely be staying in touch with the friends they made on their holiday and those new friends at the farewell BBQ even had a birthday cake for mum, to celebrate her upcoming birthday. ‘I think we will be back some day for sure and I would love that the children could learn more English too. We can’t complain at all really, as we had no idea how this would work,’ added Linda.

Catherine Crowley from Dunmanway Chamber of Commerce said that everyone in the town went above and beyond to welcome Linda and her family to Dunmanway.

‘They were nearly like celebrities when they walked around town and it’s lonely to see them go, as they’re such a nice family. 

‘But they had a fantastic time and none of this would have been possible without all the businesses who sponsored prizes, accommodation, vouchers, car rental and lots more,’ said Catherine.