Cavan Town CCE Summer Trad Concerts - July and August 2026

Every summer, Cavan Town Branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann (CCÉ) runs a free series of traditional music, song and dance evenings that draw locals and visitors alike. The concerts alternate between the Meadowview Inn on Dublin Road in Cavan town and the Cavan County Museum in Ballyjamesduff, running from early July through to the end of August. If you have any interest in Irish traditional music at all - played live, played well, and played informally - this is one of the better ways to spend a summer evening in Cavan.

What to expect

The format is what Comhaltas call a Seisún Show - roughly an hour and a half of traditional Irish music, song and set dancing, performed on a small stage rather than around a pub table. It is informal by design. The branch uses these evenings as a performance platform for its own musicians, from newer players finding their feet to experienced performers, so the feel is warm and unselfconscious rather than polished-concert stiff. Expect fiddles, flutes, uilleann pipes, bodhrán and singing in Irish and English, with set dancing demonstrations woven through. Guest performers join on some nights. Admission is free throughout the series, so there is no reason not to wander in.

The alternating venues give the concerts two distinct settings. Meadowview Inn is a long-established Cavan pub and restaurant that has hosted live music for decades - a proper local atmosphere, good for a pint alongside the session. The Cavan County Museum, housed in a fine 19th-century convent building in Ballyjamesduff, is a more considered setting, the kind of place where the artefacts in the corridors quietly add to the sense of occasion.

Getting there

Cavan town sits at the junction of the N3 (Dublin - Belturbet) and the N54, roughly 110km north-west of Dublin - a comfortable 90-minute drive on the M3 and then the N3. Bus Éireann runs regular services from Dublin’s Busáras to Cavan town (route 30/30X). Parking in Cavan town is generally straightforward, with surface car parks near the town centre. For the Ballyjamesduff dates, Ballyjamesduff is about 20km south of Cavan town on the R194, easily reached by car; local bus connections are limited so driving or a taxi from Cavan town is the practical option.

While you’re in Cavan

Cavan town has a compact, unpretentious centre with a good range of places to eat before the concert, and the surrounding county offers lakelands, forest parks and the walking trails of the Cuilcagh Mountain Park. There is more to see in Cavan and across Co. Cavan.

Good to know

• The series runs from 12 July through to 30 August 2026, every week from 8:00pm
• Venues alternate between Meadowview Inn, Cavan town and Cavan County Museum, Ballyjamesduff - check the specific weekly schedule before travelling
• Admission is free throughout
• For the confirmed weekly rota, email cavantowncce44@gmail.com or check the Cavan Town CCÉ Facebook page for announcements closer to each date