Annual Festivals and Events in Ireland
The Write Stuff
Fancy getting up close and personal with Lawrence Block, Roddy Doyle, Colm Tóibín, Neil Jordan, Anne Enright, and a host of other literary greats? Listowel Writer's Week (writersweek.ie) is a chaotic and seriously democratic gathering devoted to all things literary—including numerous workshops by the greats—where info on writing your own masterpiece is there for the asking. This being Kerry, expect discussions to last well toward dawn. It takes place all over the town of Listowel on the first weekend in June.
Pack Your Wellies
Ireland's biggest agricultural gathering, Tullamore Show (www.tullamoreshow.com), attracts 60,000 people annually in mid-August for cattle contests, sheep-shearing competitions, Irish Axe Men demonstrations, exhibits of local artisanal produce, fashion shows, displays of vintage farm machinery, and more. It's a wildly popular festival with something for everyone.
Get Your Rugby On
Every spring rugby fever grips the country as the Six Nations Tournament (www.rbs6nations.com) begins. The beloved Irish team takes on the might of Wales, France, Scotland, Italy, and its old enemy England in a series of bone-crunching encounters. At least two of the games take place at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, and game weekends are great times to be in and around the capital.
Lark in the Park
Every June, Cork City struts its artistic stuff with the Midsummer Festival (www.corkmidsummer.com), a mix of music, film, and theater. Be sure to get tickets for whatever the Corcadorca Theatre Company is doing—in the past they've taken Shakespeare to the local courthouse, the city morgue, and the expansive green spaces of Fitzgerald's Park—a very different experience, from a company constantly pushing the envelope. It runs on consecutive weekends in June leading up to the 21st.
Blooming Forth
Even though it is now reckoned that more Americans and Japanese attend the events surrounding Bloomsday (jamesjoyce.ie) than Irish people, it hasn't taken away a jot from an event that continues to grow regardless. Most Irish, if they're being honest, will probably admit to "never having actually finished Ulysses," but are still happy to discourse at length over deviled kidneys and other Joycean delights on the hidden meanings within this legendary work. Bloomsday is June 16.
Have a Flutter on the Nags
Galway Race Week (www.galwayraces.com) is one of the country's biggest events with most of Dublin, Cork, and Limerick decamping to the City of the Tribes for an end-of-July week of celebration centered half on equine excellence and half on pub sessions. Every politician worth his or her salt hits the races to press the flesh, followed by legions of supporters and onlookers out for the craic—of which there is an endless supply.
Good for the Sole
On the last Sunday in July, join the thousands of pilgrims and adventurers who climb Mayo's Croagh Patrick (www.croagh-patrick.com)—in your bare feet, for the full purging of your misdeeds. A ghostly hill, tricky loose stones underfoot, and a Mass overlooking Clew Bay: it all adds up to an experience that is difficult but hugely rewarding.
Acting the Goat
Puck Fair (www.puckfair.ie) in Kerry is the oldest festival in Ireland, dating back to pagan times, where a goat is made king for three days of drinking, dancing, and general abandon. In the town of Killorglin, County Kerry, pubs stay open all night, traveler folk sell horses and cows on Main Street, and up to 100,000 people crowd this tiny town of 58 pubs for a mad three-day weekend. Held on the second weekend in August, it's truly one of Ireland's most unusual festivals.
Gather Those Boats
Cruínniu na mBád (irelandsmaritimefestivals.com/cruinniu-na-mbad-festival/), or the Gathering of the Boats, is basically a big booze-up and regatta to celebrate the unique and beautiful boat that is the Galway hooker—a sleek, dark little sailing vessel with rusty red sails originally used to transport turf and other necessities along the harsh Atlantic coast of Ireland. The event takes place around the third weekend in August around southern County Galway, with traditional boat races providing the excuse for a hooley, or party of trad music and late nights.
Clash of the Ash
Usually the first Sunday in September, the All-Ireland Hurling Final (www.gaa.ie), at Dublin's Croke Park, is a uniquely Irish sporting spectacle. Thirty highly amped players clutching ash hurleys whack a heavy leather ball, or sliothar, at warp speeds around the pitch as they slug it out for the sport's highest prize. Raw emotions, brilliant color, and geometry-defying skills that you won't see back home make it memorable.
What a Wonderful World
For jazz lovers, the Cork Jazz Festival (www.guinnessjazzfestival.com) on the second-to-last weekend in October is a perfect antidote to the approaching dark evenings of winter. Sponsored by Guinness, the festival tends to be a bacchanalian mix of international talent, wild nights, and wonderful music.
