What's On in Cavan

The Arva Show reaches a milestone in 2026, marking seventy years since the first show was held in the town in 1956. It is a proper country show in the old style: over 300 classes judged across seven categories on the day, from pedigree and non-pedigree cattle and sheep to young handler classes, with the Lakeland Dairies All-Ireland Best Dairy Bred Beef Animal class carrying a €1,000 prize fund.

Away from the judging rings there is live music and a jiving competition, and the organisers promise a great family day out, with free entry for children. In a nice piece of timing, the 2026 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final falls on show day, so a big screen on the grounds will carry the match live.

Arva sits in the quiet lake country of west Cavan where the counties of Cavan, Leitrim and Longford meet — combine the show with a wander around the surrounding lakes and you have a fine, unhurried Sunday.

Ballyconnell’s summer festival returns for the 2026 August bank holiday, running over five days from Thursday to the Monday. Centred on the town’s Main Street, it promises a mix of live music and entertainment for all ages — the classic Irish small-town festival formula, where the whole place turns out and visitors are absorbed into the crowd.

Ballyconnell itself is a good base for the weekend: the town sits on the Shannon–Erne Waterway in west Cavan’s lakeland, with boating on the canal, walking in the surrounding hills, and the Cavan Burren’s prehistoric landscape within easy reach by car. The festival makes a lively anchor for a bank holiday spent exploring this quiet corner of the county.

The programme is announced through the festival’s own channels closer to the weekend, so check locally for the line-up on each night when you arrive.

For one bank holiday Monday, Killykeen Forest Park on the shores of Lough Oughter becomes a woodland stage. From midday to evening the festival presents six hours of live performances from a line-up of emerging Irish musicians — acts announced for 2026 include Indigos Ego, Webbs, WinterKing and Helen Cantrell — with the music drifting out under the trees rather than blasting from a main stage.

The format is deliberately relaxed: bring a picnic blanket, settle in among the pines, and there is good food and coffee on site through the afternoon. It suits families and anyone who prefers their festival at conversational volume, and the forest park’s lakeshore trails are there whenever you want to stretch your legs between sets.

Killykeen is about fifteen minutes’ drive west of Cavan town, deep in the Lough Oughter lake maze — one of the prettiest corners of the county to spend an August afternoon.

The Fair of Muff has been held almost every year since 1608, when King James I granted a licence for an August fair at Muff Castle — and its roots go back further still, to the Celtic harvest festival of Lughnasa on the slopes of Loughanleagh. Originally held on 1 August, it moved to 12 August when the calendar changed in 1752, and it has stuck to that date ever since.

It remains at heart a horse fair. Deals are still done and sealed with the traditional spit and a handshake, and around the horse trading you’ll find street vendors, old fair games like the penny toss and skittles, music and dancing. It draws hundreds of visitors to a crossroads community that is quiet for the other 364 days of the year.

Muff sits below Loughanleagh mountain near Kingscourt in east Cavan. Come prepared for a field rather than a formal venue — this is one of the last survivors of the old Irish fair day, and that is exactly its charm.

The Virginia Show is County Cavan’s big agricultural day out and one of the largest one-day shows in the region, with over 10,000 visitors expected for its 83rd edition. The scale is remarkable for a one-day event: almost 500 competition classes, more than 200 trade stands, and sections covering cattle, sheep, poultry, horses and dogs alongside home industries, a fashion show and cookery demonstrations.

Its most famous fixture is the Diageo Baileys Champion Dairy Cow competition, widely regarded as one of Ireland’s premier dairy contests, which draws elite animals from across the country to compete for a €13,000 prize fund. Elsewhere on the grounds you’ll find All-Ireland finals in everything from amateur art to onion growing, over 60 horse and pony classes, and — new for 2026 — a side-saddle riding display.

The show runs on a Wednesday, and Virginia is an easy day trip from Dublin or anywhere in the north midlands. Come hungry, allow a full day, and expect traffic into town around mid-morning.

On Friday 18 September, Cavan joins Culture Night, the all-island celebration delivered in cities, towns, villages and rural locations nationwide. From late afternoon until late, venues open their doors for one packed evening of performances, exhibitions, workshops and open houses — and everything on the night is free of charge by design.

Cavan town’s theatre, library and gallery spaces make a natural core for an evening of wandering between open doors, and the night is county-wide by design, so expect smaller towns and villages to add their own events to the Cavan programme — you can plan the evening around whichever corner of the county you’re staying in.

The full Cavan listing is published on the Culture Night website closer to the night, so check it before heading out — the 2026 programme was still being assembled over the summer. No booking is needed for most events, though smaller venues tend to operate first-come, first-served.

Ed Reavy, born at Maudabawn in east Cavan, emigrated to Philadelphia as a young man and went on to become one of the most influential composers in Irish traditional music — his reels and jigs are played in sessions the world over. Since 2015 the Cavan town branch of Comhaltas has marked his legacy with this festival, held in October each year.

The formula is a proper trad weekend: music sessions running in pubs throughout the town from Thursday to Sunday, céilí dancing in the Town Hall, and competitive fiddling in honour of the man himself, all within walking distance in a compact county town. It is an easy festival to fall into — pick a pub, find a seat near the music, and stay put.

Mid-October is quiet season in Cavan, so finding a room in town is rarely a struggle. The full programme is published through the festival’s channels closer to the weekend.