What's On in Leitrim

For one week each July, Drumshanbo fills with traditional musicians of every age for the Joe Mooney Summer School. The daytime business is tuition — classes in traditional instruments, singing and set dancing, centred on the town’s community centre — but the week is just as much a festival, with concerts, recitals, lectures and sessions spilling through the town’s pubs late into the evening.

The 2026 school runs from 18 to 25 July, opening with a concert by Tempest on the Sunday night and building to the Grand Traditional Concert on the Thursday, both ticketed at €15. Class places are limited and online registration closes in early July — popular options such as sean-nós dancing fill up well before the week begins.

You don’t need to be enrolled to enjoy it: the concerts and the nightly pub sessions are the easiest way in for visitors. Drumshanbo is small, so book accommodation early; the school’s website lists local B&Bs and self-catering options.

Manorhamilton’s agricultural show is the big summer gathering for north Leitrim’s farming community, held at the Bee Park community field on the edge of town. The 2026 show takes place on Saturday 25 July.

The programme is a proper old-style county show: cattle, sheep, donkey and poultry classes, brood mares and young horse classes, riding competitions and show jumping, along with sheep dog trials and carriage driving. Away from the rings there are home industries, arts and crafts, horticulture, vintage machinery, demonstrations, a tug of war and live music — plenty to fill an afternoon even if you can’t tell a Texel from a Suffolk.

Manorhamilton sits among the limestone hills of north Leitrim within easy reach of Glencar Waterfall and the Sligo border country, so the show pairs well with a day exploring the Glens area.

Ballinamore has been throwing its family festival for almost sixty years, and it remains one of the only week-long town festivals left in Ireland. The formula hasn’t changed much: a full week of music, art, sports and water activities by day, and a free open-air concert on the Main Street platform every night.

The 2026 festival runs from 9 to 16 August, with a nightly line-up that leans happily into country and folk — Patrick Feeney opens the week, with Sean Magee, Mike Denver, Derek Ryan and Johnny Brady among the acts that follow, alongside tribute and local performers.

The free concerts are the heart of it, and the town gets busy on the big country nights, so arrive in good time for a spot near the stage. Ballinamore sits on the Shannon–Erne Waterway in south Leitrim, making it an easy stop for anyone boating or cycling the canal.

Mohill’s agricultural show takes over the Reynolds Topline Sports Hub and McGowan’s Field on the Cloone road for one Sunday every August — in 2026, Sunday 16 August. It is south Leitrim’s day for showing off its best animals, baking and craftwork, and a good-natured window into rural life for anyone passing through.

Expect a full card of cattle, sheep, horse, pony and donkey classes alongside poultry and pets, with equestrian competitions running through the day. Around the main rings there are crafts, horticulture, trade stands, carriage driving, vintage machinery and live music.

Agricultural shows are unhurried, come-and-go affairs, and this one is easy to combine with a wander around Lough Rynn Castle and its walled gardens, a few minutes outside Mohill. If you miss it, the same estate hosts a harvest and vintage day in early September.

The Carrick Camino is Carrick-on-Shannon’s answer to the Spanish original: a 34km waymarked hike organised by the town’s Chamber of Commerce to raise funds for local development. Walkers register at the Market Yard in Carrick, collect a hiker’s pack and Camino t-shirt, and take a bus to the start in Ballyfarnon before walking home through some of the finest country in the north-west — past Kilronan Castle, over the Arigna Mountains and along Lough Allen to Drumshanbo, following stretches of the Miners Way, Leitrim Way and Blueway.

The 2026 walk takes place on Saturday 29 August. It is self-led at your own pace, with walk leaders spread through the field, three rest and refreshment stops on the route, first aiders on duty and a hot meal waiting back at the Market Yard.

It is a long day on foot, so reasonable fitness and proper boots are needed; booking details are on the official website.

The grounds of Lough Rynn Castle, just outside Mohill, host this harvest festival and vintage day on Sunday 6 September 2026, running from midday. It is a celebration of the old rural year: threshing demonstrations, vintage cars and machinery, and craft demonstrations, with an auto jumble for the collectors.

There is plenty beyond the machinery too — a country market and trade stalls, street theatre, children’s amusements and face painting, a dog show in the early afternoon and a bonny baby competition later on, with full bar facilities on site. It is an easy, family-shaped day out rather than a competitive show.

The setting is half the appeal: Lough Rynn Castle’s lakeside estate and walled gardens are among south Leitrim’s most handsome spots, and the festival is a good excuse to see them. Adult admission is €15, with students €8 and children free.

On Friday 18 September, Leitrim takes part in Culture Night, the annual all-island moment — supported by the Arts Council and local authorities — when cultural venues open late with special programming, all of it free by design.

Leitrim’s cultural life punches well above the county’s size, and Culture Night is when that is easiest to see: expect arts venues, galleries, studios, libraries and heritage spaces in Carrick-on-Shannon, Manorhamilton and the smaller towns to open their doors for an evening of performances, exhibitions, workshops and readings. The pleasure of the night is drifting between open doors with no fixed plan.

The full county listing goes up on the Culture Night website closer to the night itself — the 2026 programme was still being assembled over the summer — so check it before setting out to see what’s on nearest you.

South Leitrim’s lakelands are one of Ireland’s great coarse fishing destinations, and the Carrigallen Autumn Fishing Festival is built around exactly that: five days of match angling on the lakes around the village, running from 27 September to 2 October 2026.

Leitrim Tourism bills it plainly as “the ideal angler’s holiday” — a combination of serious match fishing, good hospitality and great sport — and that is the shape of the week. Anglers fish the surrounding waters by day and gather back in Carrigallen’s pubs in the evening, in a village better known to most visitors for its Corn Mill Theatre.

This one is squarely for anglers rather than spectators, but if you fish, it is the kind of event worth planning an autumn trip to Ireland around; quiet, well-stocked lakes are the county’s calling card.

Iron Mountain is Leitrim’s literature festival — a weekend of readings, conversation and music at The Dock arts centre in Carrick-on-Shannon from 2 to 4 October 2026. The programme promises a rich blend of new writing and challenging perspectives on contemporary society, and the 2026 line-up includes poet Paul Muldoon, novelist David Park, actor Carrie Crowley and singer Cathy Jordan.

The festival is also home to the John McGahern Award, a €2,500 prize for emerging Irish writers announced during the weekend — a fitting prize for the county McGahern made his own.

Tickets are sold as full weekend passes only, €75 or €45 concession, with booking opening through the festival website. The Dock is fully wheelchair accessible, and the organisers welcome advance notice of any access needs.