What's On in Tipperary

Now in its fourth year, this one-day outdoor festival sets up at the foot of the Devil’s Bit, the distinctively notched mountain that looms over Templemore in the north of the county. Music runs from mid-afternoon until ten at night, and the 2026 bill mixes local acts with party bands — Rebel Hearts with rebel songs and traditional tunes, party outfit Smash Hits!, Seskin Lane, Silver Dollar and DJ Lorcan Ryan, with more acts announced on the day.

It is a community festival rather than a big commercial one, and that is its appeal: local food vendors, a licensed bar and a field full of neighbours under one of Tipperary’s best-known landmarks. If the weather behaves, the views of the mountain and the surrounding countryside are part of the show.

There is ample parking on site, and tickets are sold in advance online — check the festival’s social media for the ticket link.

Cahir’s August bank holiday festival takes its name from its setting: four days of events in the town with Cahir Castle, one of Ireland’s largest and best-preserved medieval castles, as the backdrop. The programme runs from live music and arts through inspiring talks to family entertainment and plenty of good food, and the festival bills itself as a celebration of women, community and culture.

It draws on old fair-day traditions in the town and gives them a contemporary shape, so expect a mix of the sociable and the thoughtful — gigs and street life alongside conversation events. Cahir itself is compact and easy to explore between events, with the castle and the riverside Swiss Cottage walk both worth building into a visit.

Events are ticketed, with tickets and the full line-up available through the festival website. Falling over the bank holiday weekend, accommodation in and around Cahir books up — plan ahead.

The North Tipp Show is Nenagh’s traditional agricultural show, held as always on the August bank holiday Monday — in 2026 that’s Monday 3 August, with the show getting under way from mid-morning at the showgrounds at Moyroe on the N52 just outside the town.

It is a proper old-style show day: livestock and equine classes, home produce and craft competitions, and trade stands, with entries handled through the Irish Shows Association’s SuperShow platform alongside dozens of other shows around the country. For visitors it is one of the easiest ways to see rural Tipperary at its most sociable, and it makes an undemanding family day out on a bank holiday.

Admission is €15 for adults, €10 for students and OAPs, €5 for under-16s, and free for children under 12 accompanied by an adult. No booking needed — pay at the gate and wander.

For one weekend each August, Clonmel’s streets fill with music. The busking festival puts performers out on the town centre streets through the day, and as evening comes the music moves indoors for a run of night-time gigs in pubs and venues around the town — a format the festival has kept since it began, and one that suits Clonmel’s compact, walkable centre.

The range is broad by design: traditional tunes, folk, country, pop covers and everything in between, from seasoned acts to first-timers chancing an open guitar case. Part of the pleasure is simply drifting from pitch to pitch and finding a performer you’d never have sought out.

Everything is free — the street performances and the night gigs alike — which makes it an easy weekend to dip in and out of. Expect the town to be lively and the best-known pubs to be crowded on the Friday and Saturday nights.

The Dualla Show, on Sunday 30 August in 2026, is one of Tipperary’s major agricultural shows, and it packs a remarkable amount into one day in a small village: livestock and showjumping classes, tractor pulling, dog shows, a vintage section, food, trade stands and live music, with wrestling and country music acts among the added attractions in recent programmes.

What sets it apart is how deliberately it caters for families — the children’s entertainment is free, and the day is built as much around the funfair atmosphere as the serious business of the cattle and horse classes. It is the kind of event where you can watch a hotly contested livestock class and a wrestling bout within the same hour.

The show runs a free shuttle bus from Thurles town centre, which is the easiest way in — parking near the showgrounds gets busy. Early-bird tickets are sold through the show’s website in advance.

Cashel’s four-day arts festival, running 10–13 September in 2026, spreads music, dance, theatre, film, visual art, literature, workshops and family events across the town’s historic spaces. Few festival settings in Ireland can compete: this is the town beneath the Rock of Cashel, and the festival makes a point of animating its old buildings and corners rather than confining itself to a single venue.

The programme is deliberately broad — a classical recital, a film screening and a children’s workshop can all share an afternoon — and the organisers put real emphasis on involving both visitors and the local community rather than just staging shows at them. It is a manageable, friendly-scaled festival: you can walk between every venue in minutes.

September is a good month to see Cashel anyway, after the peak-season coach crowds at the Rock have thinned. Individual events are ticketed separately; the programme and ticket office details are published on the festival website.

Applefest is Clonmel’s harvest festival, timed for late September as the apples come in from the orchards of the surrounding Suir valley — this is cider and apple-growing country, and the festival celebrates food, heritage and nature through what its organisers call the prism of the arts. The 2026 edition runs from 24 to 27 September around a theme of care.

Rather than a single big spectacle, it is a weave of smaller events made with local and national artists, craftspeople, food producers, performers and community groups: workshops, a seasonal fair, performances and projects that spill through the town and its environs. It has a gentler, more homespun character than a headline music festival, and is all the better for it if you like your festivals rooted in place.

Events are programmed and priced individually, so check the schedule on the festival website before travelling. Clonmel is well served by rail and road, making a day trip straightforward.

Spleodar — the Irish word suggests exuberance or high spirits — is Nenagh’s Halloween arts festival, made especially for children and young people. In 2026 it runs from Tuesday 27 to Saturday 31 October, filling the midterm break with theatre, workshops and Halloween happenings around the town, and building to the big night itself.

It has been a fixture of the north Tipperary autumn for years, run in partnership with Nenagh Arts Centre, and its scale is well judged for its audience: events are small, local and hands-on rather than spectacle-for-thousands, which makes it a genuinely good bet for families staying in or passing through the area at midterm.

The 2026 programme is published closer to the festival on the Spleodar website — dates are confirmed but individual events and prices come later, so check before planning around a specific show. Nenagh Arts Centre is the point of contact for queries.

The Clonmel Oil Chase is the race that puts Powerstown Park on the national map: a Grade 2 steeplechase run over about two and a half miles each November, whose roll of honour includes Imperial Call, Beef Or Salmon, War Of Attrition, Sizing Europe and four-time winner Dorans Pride. The 2025 running went to Willie Mullins’ star grey Il Etait Temps, and the race regularly draws horses of that calibre for their seasonal debuts. Clonmel’s November fixture — Oil Chase day — falls on Thursday 5 November in 2026, with a full supporting card of hurdles and chases from lunchtime.

For a visitor it is a very accessible way into Irish jump racing: a country track on the edge of a busy county town, small enough that you can get close to the parade ring and the fences, on a card good enough to attract top yards.

Clonmel also races at Powerstown Park on 1 and 22 October and 1 December if the feature day doesn’t suit; tickets and hospitality are handled through the racecourse website.