Glenties Harvest Fair Festival 2026

What to Expect

The Glenties Harvest Fair Festival runs across more than a week, but it is really built around one day: the traditional Harvest Fair on Saturday, September 12, when street trading, a sheep mart, sheep shearing and live street music fill the town centre in a format going back to Glenties’ history as a market town for the surrounding hill-farming area. Around that core day, the wider festival adds a full entertainment programme, including comedy acts, dances at the Highlands Hotel, carnival rides, a dedicated kids’ day, a community tug-of-war and a float parade, plus local sports events and jiving competitions through the rest of the ten-day run. It is a genuinely old tradition dressed up with a modern festival programme around it, so visitors coming just for Fair Day itself get the market and mart atmosphere, while those staying longer get the added entertainment on top.

Good to Know

Dates: Friday, September 4 to Sunday, September 13, 2026, with the main Fair Day on Saturday, September 12. Based in Glenties town centre, with dances held at the Highlands Hotel in the town. No general admission price is published; street trading, the sheep mart and the parade are free to attend, while individual attractions like the carnival rides and the hotel dances are priced separately at the door. For the full day-by-day schedule, contact the organisers on +353 87 000 0674 or info@glenties.ie, or check glenties.ie for updates as the programme is confirmed.

Getting There

Glenties sits on the N56 in west Donegal, about 30 minutes from Donegal Town and 45 minutes from Letterkenny. The town is a long-standing market centre for the surrounding hill-farming area of west Donegal, which is part of why the Harvest Fair still functions as a working sheep mart rather than just a festival re-enactment. There is no rail service to Glenties; the town is reached by car or Bus Éireann’s west Donegal routes, with parking around the town centre and showgrounds.