Lottery betting company Lottoland recently carried out a very interesting survey into the most popular summer festivals in Ireland. they polled a cross-section of Irish people of all ages and from all parts of the country to get a true reflection of the most beloved festivals from the Emerald Isle. With temperatures rising on both sides of the Irish Sea you may just be tempted to make the short journey over to Ireland to check some of these fabulous festivals out for yourself. They range from enormous music festivals to a famous match-making festival and one where the star of the show is a goat!
The most popular summer festival was the winner by a comfortable margin, according to the results of the survey. The Electric Picnic in County Laois won 28% of the overall vote as the best summer festival in the country. It’s been going since 2004 and has become known as Ireland’s version of Glastonbury. In 2018 the line-up is particularly impressive, with Massive Attack, N.E.R.D., Dua Lipa and Kendrick Lamar among those featuring in the weekend festival at the end of August. A few more music festivals feature on this list, with the Fleadh Cheoil in Drogheda a treat for lovers of traditional Irish music (and all the beer drinking that goes on to accompany it!) The 4th favourite choice was the Longitude weekend festival in Dublin with Solange, SZA, Anderson Pakk and Sampha all set to appear.
Music festivals aren’t the only option if you are planning a trip over to Ireland this summer. There are some alternative festivals which offer a rather curious insight into the Irish psyche! The festival voted second best in this survey is an example of one which certainly divides opinion. The Rose of Tralee festival was dreamt up as a way to attract tourists to this small town in the South West of the country. It has since become something of a national institution, one which was memorably lampooned in the Father Ted ‘Lovely Girls’ episode. This is a uniquely Irish beauty contest, and while the televised show may be a bit of a snoozer the town itself is full of life during the festival.
The Lisdoonvarna match-making festival is another Irish institution which attracts up to 60,000 singles looking to find love the old-fashioned way. There is a big imbalance to the gender ratios here, so men can expect to face a lot of competition when they are trying to meet a suitable match. However, as with many of the festivals on this list a lot of the fun happens in the pubs around the town. Puck Fair is the oldest festival on the survey, dating back hundreds of years. A wild goat is captured and becomes ‘King Puck’ for the weekend, during which you can expect to find lots of music and pubs which are packed to the rafters. Another animal-based festival came bottom of this particular survey, but that doesn’t mean that it should be ignored. The Galway Races are a fixture on the horse-racing scene and the city of Galway never seems busier than during the week of the Races at the beginning of August.
Perhaps this list will have encouraged you to take a weekend trip to our neighbours to the west this summer, for a change. With temperatures in Ireland and the UK regularly topping those in the Mediterranean, it might be the perfect time for a visit and to take in one of these fantastic festivals at the same time.