What's On in Wexford

For one long weekend every July, the historical coastal village of Carrig-on-Bannow in south Wexford gives itself over entirely to traditional music, song, dance and craic. Now in its 34th year, the Phil Murphy Weekend spreads across the whole village: concerts in the festival marquee and the village church, trad sessions in the pubs, ceilís in the community centre, workshops in the school, plus a singing gathering and children’s entertainment.

The 2026 headline concert brings fiddle great Martin Hayes, founder of The Gloaming, together with Brian Donnellan of the Tulla Céilí Band in the Church of Mary Immaculate and St Joseph on Saturday 25 July, with local act Bar of Lough in support.

The big concerts are ticketed through the festival box office, while much of the session music around the village is the informal, drop-in kind. Check the programme on the festival website before travelling.

Gorey’s Market House Festival is a proper big town party: three evenings of free open-air music on Main Street over the August bank holiday weekend, put on by Wexford County Council with no tickets and no booking — you just turn up.

Each night has a crowd-pleasing headliner. 2026 brings an Ed Sheeran tribute on the Friday, AC/DC tribute EZ/DC on the Saturday and The Committed playing the hits of The Commitments on the Sunday, with a supporting cast of local bands and DJs across the weekend. Saturday afternoon adds a free family fun day in Gorey Town Park from noon to 5pm, with live DJs, shows, interactive activities, food and a dedicated sensory zone, while Sunday brings street markets and food vendors to the town.

It is about as easy as festivals get — free, central and family-friendly — though the Main Street crowds build quickly once the headliners start, so come early for a good spot.

Running since 2011 in Ballythomas, halfway between Gorey and Tinahely, the Gap Arts Festival describes its mission as bringing the arts to parts they wouldn’t otherwise reach — four days of theatre, music, film and hands-on projects in a rural corner of north Wexford. The European Festivals Association has recognised it with its EFFE Label as a unique festival, singling out its participatory spirit.

The 2026 programme includes The Kiss, a one-man play by Jimmy Murphy performed by Luke Griffin; Lover, a new theatre piece by Joy Redmond about modern dating; music from local desert-rock project Gaphead; late-night outdoor film screenings; local history talks; and community art activities for all ages.

Its charm is the setting and the scale — small audiences, local voices and a festival that feels made by the community it happens in. Events are ticketed individually through the festival website, and you will want a car to get there.

Live at the Breakwater sets up a large concert tent at Ferrybank, on the banks of the Slaney estuary just across Wexford Bridge from the town centre, and fills it with big touring acts over two August weekends. Note it is not a nightly run — the 2026 shows fall on 7–9 and 14–16 August.

The first weekend brings Qween with the Dublin Gospel Choir, The Big Session — a trad-party bill with The Whistlin’ Donkeys, Ruaile Buaile and Mark McCabe — and a K-pop night. The second weekend features Dec Pierce’s Block Rockin’ Beats, singer-songwriter Cian Ducrot and chart DJ Joel Corry, so there is a night for most tastes.

Each concert is ticketed separately through the festival website. The venue is an easy walk from Wexford town over the bridge, near the Riverbank House Hotel, which makes it a rare big-gig experience you can stroll home from.

Enniscorthy’s Blackstairs Blues Festival is billed as Ireland’s longest consecutively running blues festival, and it works the way a blues weekend should: free live music in intimate venues and pubs dotted around the town, with the crowd drifting from one to the next as the sessions build.

The programming ranges right across the tradition — from the work songs of the Delta to Chicago electric blues and everywhere in between — and the festival’s reputation draws players from well beyond Wexford. It is one of several free festivals this musical town puts on through the year, and locals treat it as a fixture.

Because the venues are ordinary town-centre pubs rather than a single site, there is nothing to book — just arrive, pick a doorway with music coming out of it and follow your ears. The 2026 edition runs over the weekend of 11–13 September.

Culture Night is Ireland’s annual national celebration of culture: on one Friday evening each September, arts and heritage venues across the island extend their opening hours and put on special events, workshops and performances, all free of charge. In 2026 it falls on Friday 18 September.

County Wexford joins in across its towns, with Wexford town’s venues and studios the natural hub for an evening of wandering between performances and open doors. In Enniscorthy the night has an extra dimension — it doubles as the opening of the Enniscorthy Arts & Culture Festival, which continues through that weekend.

Everything is free and most events need no tickets, though smaller venues may operate first-come, first-served. The detailed county programme is published on the Culture Night website closer to the night, so check it before heading out — the fun is in sampling things you would never normally book for.

For five days each September, the port town of New Ross on the River Barrow becomes an unlikely world capital of the piano. The 2026 festival is a special one — its 20th year — under artistic director Finghin Collins, who has built it into one of Ireland’s most respected classical events.

The anniversary line-up includes the RTÉ Concert Orchestra alongside international pianists Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Anna Fedorova, Fabrizio Chiovetta and Rebecca Omordia, with chamber partners including Rachel Roberts and Robert Plane. True to form there is jazz in the mix too — American jazz pianist Judy Carmichael plays the 2026 festival — and the programme leans into original collaborations between the visiting artists rather than a simple parade of recitals.

Concerts are intimate and the town is compact, which is much of the appeal. Tickets can be booked online, by phone or in person through the festival’s booking service; book ahead for the headline evenings.

Write By The Sea describes itself as a boutique literary festival, and the setting is the thing: for one weekend each September the fishing village of Kilmore Quay on Wexford’s south coast fills with readers and writers, with the harbour and sea as backdrop.

Days are spent listening to acclaimed authors, joining lively debates, discovering new voices and talking books with fellow enthusiasts. Recent editions have drawn guests of the calibre of Paul Lynch, Tessa Hadley and Lucy Caldwell.

The 2026 festival runs from 25 to 27 September, with the full programme launching in July and tickets on sale through the festival website — its mailing list is the easiest way to hear when booking opens. Kilmore Quay is small and the festival deliberately intimate, so sort accommodation early if you plan to stay in the village itself.

Wexford Festival Opera has built an international reputation on doing what almost nobody else does: staging rare and neglected operas to a very high standard in a small Irish harbour town. The 2026 edition is a landmark one — the festival’s 75th anniversary — and runs for over two weeks at the National Opera House.

Three mainstage works get new productions this year: Mascagni’s Iris, Rossini’s comedy L’equivoco stravagante and Prokofiev’s The Gambler. Around them sit a 75th-anniversary concert, Croí na Féile, and a wider programme of performances, talks and events, with guest artists including tenor Joseph Calleja, Ermonela Jaho, Daniela Barcellona and Giorgi Manoshvili.

Festival time transforms Wexford town — the Spiegeltent music and comedy festival runs on the quay over the same fortnight, so there is plenty on beyond the opera house. Book tickets well ahead through the festival’s website or box office; anniversary years draw a big international audience.

While the opera festival fills the National Opera House each October, the Spiegeltent Festival takes care of everything else: an eclectic run of gigs and comedy nights inside the Fortuna Spiegeltent, an ornate travelling mirror-tent set up on Wexford Quay for the fortnight.

The 2026 programme mixes contemporary music, 80s icons, trad, folk and comedy. Acts announced include Gavin James, Foy Vance and Paul Brady on the music side, with comedians such as Deirdre O’Kane, Neil Delamere and Keith Barry among the laughs. Every show is booked individually, so you can dip in for a single night or build a weekend around a few.

Coming during Wexford’s festival fortnight means the whole town is in good form — restaurants and pubs are at their liveliest of the year. Headline shows sell quickly, so book ahead through the festival website rather than chancing the door.

Wexford Racecourse rounds off its 2026 season with a two-day meeting across the October bank holiday weekend, racing on Sunday 25 and Monday 26 October. Wexford is a jumps track, so expect cards built around hurdles and steeplechases, with the bank holiday crowd giving the closing fixture a festival feel.

These are the course’s final fixtures of 2026, so if you want to combine a race day with an autumn break — the opera festival is in full swing in Wexford town the same fortnight — this is the weekend to do it.

If you are in the county earlier in the season, the track also races on 7–8 August and 28 August 2026. Admission and hospitality details for each fixture are on the Wexford Races website.

Wexford On Ice brings a real ice rink to Wexford Quay for the Christmas season, running from 27 November 2026 to 3 January 2027 — skating with the harbour beside you rather than a shopping centre around you. It is run by Lantern, the same team behind the town’s Spiegeltent Festival, and has become a fixture of Wexford’s winter.

Up to 18 December the rink opens weekday afternoons and evenings (3pm–9pm) and all day at weekends (10am–9pm); from 19 December it runs daily 10am–9pm, with shorter hours on Christmas Eve, St Stephen’s Day and New Year’s Eve. Last skate is always an hour before closing.

Sessions include family packages and a discounted student skate on Wednesday evenings with a valid card. At the time of writing 2026 prices were still to be confirmed, so check times and book on the website before you travel — December weekend slots are the ones to plan ahead for.