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markets · Saturday 8 August 2026 · Various 
Tubbercurry Old Fair Day Festival
At Tubbercurry Town · Tubbercurry, Co. Sligo
At Tubbercurry Town · Tubbercurry, Co. Sligo
The Tubbercurry Old Fair Day Festival is one of the longest-running community festivals in the west of Ireland, now in its 38th year and still drawing crowds from right across Connacht. Running for five days in August and building to the Old Fair Day itself on Wednesday the 12th, it turns a quiet south Sligo market town into a full-scale celebration of rural Irish life. If you have any interest in traditional crafts, local food, or simply a free day out with the family, this is genuinely worth the journey.
The centrepiece is the Heritage and Craft Village, where over 40 live demonstrations of traditional skills run throughout the festival. Thatching, weaving, butter-making, blacksmithing, rush work, pottery, and threshing are among the crafts on show - not as museum exhibits but as working demonstrations you can stop and watch or try yourself. More than a hundred trade and artisan stalls fill the town streets, selling food, craft goods, and local produce. There is a dedicated kids’ zone, street music, vintage displays, and animals - the kind of mix that keeps families occupied for several hours without anyone running short of things to look at. The Old Fair Day on Wednesday draws the biggest crowds and is the day that echoes the original livestock fairs the town held for generations before the festival was founded.
Tubbercurry sits on the N17 in south Co. Sligo, roughly 25km south of Sligo town. Coming from Dublin or the east, take the N4 to Boyle and pick up the N17 north - it is a straightforward drive of around two and a half hours from Dublin. From Galway, the N17 runs directly through Tubbercurry. Bus Eireann serves the town on the Sligo - Galway route; check current timetables at buseireann.ie before travelling. Parking in the town centre will be busy during the festival, particularly on the Old Fair Day itself - arriving before midday helps, and there is generally street parking available on the approach roads.
The town itself has a good few pubs with a strong traditional music tradition, and the surrounding south Sligo countryside is quieter and less visited than the county’s more famous north coast. There is more to see in Tubbercurry and across Co. Sligo.
Heading to Tubbercurry Town in Tubbercurry? Sligo has plenty more to see. Read the Tubbercurry area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.