August 10, 11, 12
Puck Fair
Three days. The Gathering Day, the Fair Day, the Scattering Day. A wild mountain goat is caught in the Reeks, brought into town, and crowned King Puck by a young girl chosen as the Queen of Puck. He sits on a 15-metre scaffold above the square for three days while horse-trading, music, and drinking go on below him. Origin theories run from a Cromwellian warning (a goat fled the army and alerted the town, allegedly) to a pre-Christian harvest rite to the Celtic god Lugh. Nobody knows. The fair is older than anyone who could tell you. He's released back to the mountain on the third night.
King Puck, 2001
The bronze goat
Alan Ryan Hall's bronze of a Puck goat stands beside the bridge over the Laune, unveiled in 2001. He looks down the river with the expression of an animal who has been crowned king and would prefer to be eating gorse. Most-photographed object in town. Stand beside him for the obligatory shot, then walk the fifty paces to the river itself.
A working river
Salmon and the Laune
The River Laune drains the lakes of Killarney into Dingle Bay and runs straight through Killorglin. Salmon and sea trout come up it from the sea every summer. The fishery is properly run — beats are leased, licences required, ghillies still earning a living. Walk the riverbank below the bridge in July and you'll see waders standing in the current with the patience of people who actually catch things.