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seasonal · Friday 31 July 2026 · Various 
Birr Vintage Week & Arts Festival
At Birr Town · Birr, Co. Offaly
At Birr Town · Birr, Co. Offaly
Birr Vintage Week & Arts Festival has been running every summer since 1968, making it one of Ireland’s longest-established community festivals - now well past its fifth decade. What started as a celebration of Birr’s Georgian heritage has grown into a nine-day event that takes over the whole town, drawing people back from across Ireland and further afield. If you are looking for a proper Irish town festival with deep roots and a genuine community feel rather than a corporate production, this is the kind of thing that delivers.
Over 90 separate events fill the nine days, spread across venues throughout Birr town rather than confined to one site. The mix is deliberately broad. On the arts side there are visual art exhibitions, theatre performances, film screenings, and an open submission show. The 2026 edition includes an exceptional exhibition of astronomical drawings by William Parsons, the 3rd Earl of Rosse, created at Birr Castle between 1845 and 1866 using the Great Telescope - the same sketches believed to have influenced Van Gogh’s The Starry Night.
Street performers and pop-up acts appear around the town throughout the week, alongside the annual Vintage Sunday Parade. The Gig Rig brings live music in the evenings and the week closes with fireworks. Daytime activities include the Antique and Fine Art Fair, an Artisan Food and Craft Market, a Donkey Derby, a Car Treasure Hunt, and a Fly-In at the Ormond Club. A Sensory Space runs daily at Courthouse Yard from 2 to 5pm, making the festival genuinely accessible to visitors who need a quieter setting. Entry to most events is free.
Birr sits roughly in the geographic centre of Ireland, about 25 kilometres east of Tullamore in Co. Offaly. By road it is around an hour and a half from Dublin via the M6 and N52, and about 40 minutes from Athlone. Bus Eireann serves Tullamore from Dublin Busaras, with onward local connections to Birr. Street parking is available across the town, and with events spread throughout Birr rather than at a single venue, being on foot once you arrive suits the festival well.
The town is worth time beyond the festival - Birr Castle Demesne holds the restored Great Telescope, the Historic Science Centre, and some of the finest formal gardens in Ireland. There is more to see in Birr and across Co. Offaly.
Heading to Birr Town in Birr? Offaly has plenty more to see. Read the Birr area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.