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markets · Saturday 5 September 2026 · Various 
Mountmellick Free Market
At O'Connell Square · O'Connell Square, Mountmellick, Co. Laois
At O'Connell Square · O'Connell Square, Mountmellick, Co. Laois
A free three-day event lands on O’Connell Square in Mountmellick this September, bringing architecture, community creativity and live literature together in one of the Midlands’ most quietly distinctive market towns. The Mountmellick Free Market is part of a national touring project that has its roots in Ireland’s pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2018 - a project built around a deceptively simple question: what would it take to bring Irish market squares back to life? The tour is free to attend throughout, and the programme runs across the full weekend.
The centrepiece is a Free Market pavilion set up on O’Connell Square itself, accompanied by an exhibition inside O’Connell House on the square. The exhibition draws on the original Venice Biennale material - architectural drawings and models, drone photography, audio soundscapes and recorded local stories - and the project has evolved with each stop on the tour, gathering new voices and case studies along the way.
The weekend opens with a launch featuring Irish poet Pat Boran, whose work connects closely with themes of place and community. From there the programme spreads into workshops and activities across Saturday and Sunday, with events coordinated in partnership with Mountmellick Community College. This local involvement is deliberate - the Free Market project argues that market squares belong to the communities that live around them, and the workshops reflect that. Expect hands-on sessions, conversations about the town’s future and space for people of all ages to take part.
This is the third stop on the 2026 national tour, so the format is well-run and the exhibition has been road-tested. It is the kind of event that rewards lingering rather than rushing through.
Mountmellick sits about 7 km north of Portlaoise on the R422, with easy access from the M7 motorway (junction 17). Bus Eireann services run between Portlaoise and Mountmellick. O’Connell Square is in the town centre and parking is available on and around the square itself.
Mountmellick has a strong Quaker heritage and was known historically as the “Manchester of Ireland” for its linen and cotton industries - a background the Free Market project draws on when thinking about how market towns can reinvent themselves. There is more to see in Mountmellick and across Co. Laois.
Heading to O'Connell Square in Mountmellick? Laois has plenty more to see. Read the Mountmellick area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.