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festivals · Thursday 15 October 2026 · Various 
Foxford Traditional Weekend 2026
At Shanwar · Main Street, Foxford, Co. Mayo, F26 X2V4
At Shanwar · Main Street, Foxford, Co. Mayo, F26 X2V4
Foxford Traditional Weekend brings four days of traditional Irish music, song, dance and storytelling to the town in mid-October, centred on the Shanwar venue on Main Street. It is built as a participation festival rather than a concert series: alongside evening performances there are workshops and masterclasses aimed at musicians who want to actually improve, not just watch.
The 2026 weekend runs Thursday 15 to Sunday 18 October and follows the format the festival has built its name on: concerts, hands-on workshops and masterclasses across traditional instruments and sean-nós song, a session trail through the town’s pubs, and a rambling house evening of music, story and dance in the older, informal style. The programme is graded by age, with separate tots, junior, teenage and senior strands, so it works as a family weekend as much as a musicians’ gathering. At the time of writing the organisers had not yet published the full 2026 line-up or ticket prices, though the festival’s format is well established from previous years.
Foxford is on the N26, about 12km north of Castlebar on the Moy river. Foxford railway station is on the Dublin-Ballina line via Manulla Junction, and Bus Éireann services connect the town to Castlebar and Ballina. The main venue, Shanwar, is on Main Street in the town centre, with the session trail running between the town’s pubs on foot.
Foxford is best known for the Foxford Woollen Mills, and the compact town centre makes the festival’s pub-to-pub session trail an easy one to follow on foot. There is more to see in Foxford and across Co. Mayo.
Heading to Shanwar in Foxford? Mayo has plenty more to see. Read the Foxford area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.