Fifty thousand visitors came to view Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council’s Coronation Garden in Hazelbank Park, Shore Road, last month, councillors have been told.
Speaking at a council meeting at Mossley Mill, on Monday evening, former Mayor Alderman Stephen Ross, a Threemilewater DUP representative, described the response as “absolutely amazing”.
“Some people said nobody would go it it. This was 50,000 in a month,” he added.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla officially opened the specially-themed public garden in Newtownabbey to mark the coronation of His Majesty during their visit to Northern Ireland on May 24.
The 16-metre structure is a three-floor pavilion topped by a crown and provides visitors with a musical performance of dancing topiary and spinning conical trees every 15 minutes, created by celebrity gardener and Garden Show Ireland ambassador Diarmuid Gavin.
Mr Gavin also created the Clockwork Garden which is located at Castle Gardens in Antrim to mark Her late Majesty’s platinum jubilee, the return of Garden Show Ireland after the pandemic and as a permanent attraction on the 10th anniversary of the site’s refurbishment as well as the 100th anniversary of the Antrim Castle fire.
Also speaking at the meeting, Glengormley Sinn Fein Cllr Michael Goodman asked if the King Charles III Coronation Sub-Committee would be stood down now the coronation has taken place.
He was told that the meeting minutes say that the group will have one final meeting.
Last month, councillors voted to grant permission for the permanent retention of the commemorative garden with eight councillors in favour, Deputy Mayor Glengormley Sinn Fein Cllr Rosie Kinnear against and an abstention from party colleague Cllr Henry Cushinan, a Dunsilly representative.