Dunshaughlin all set for the Harvest Festival
As the autumn evenings grow shorter, and the leaves turn to scarlet and gold, they are just a precursor for the colour and spectacle of the annual Dunshaughlin Harvest Festival, taking place in the south Meath town from Friday September 26th to Sunday 28th.
Preparations for the festival by the hard-working and dedicated committee of volunteers have been ongoing since early Spring. The sense of excitement and anticipation for the festival, now only days away, is palpable as local people go about their daily business.
It is a hugely important event in the calendar of those living in the area, who gather together each September to enjoy all that the festival has been bringing to the community since 2011.
This year’s festival gets underway on Friday 26 th at 6.30, with a lively and exciting parade, “The Gathering”, organised by the arts team. The wild boar of Dunshaughlin
has been caught by our little savages, and they will bring it to the parade to show it off. It’s ten feet long and four feet high, the biggest wild boar in Ireland!
Come and see it at the parade, which starts at the Community College and will make its way through the main street, turning right opposite the courthouse, and finishing up in the park at approximately 7.15pm.
The parade will be led by the Dublin Fire Brigade Pipe Band, and local clubs, schools and societies will be following them, with lots of music and dancing, showcasing some of the activities that can be enjoyed throughout the year by those living in Dunshaughlin and surrounding areas. The parade will provide an opportunity for those new to the area to see what clubs, classes and societies are going on locally.
Following the parade, and returning by popular demand, the hugely successful local band, Electric Lemon, will present a free concert in the park, under the cover of the Big Top tent at 7.30pm. Suitable for all ages, this concert is guaranteed to get the festival off to a rocking start.
Two full days of events and activities take place on Saturday 17 th and Sunday 28th, starting at 10am. The street markets include a range of regular stalls including pizza, burgers, crepes, coffee & ice cream, as well as nternational cuisine – Musahi – for the Japanese experience and Texas BBQ and AllBarChicken for the American taste of good food.
For all your shopping needs, many of our regular vendors are back with us again this year with their range of candles and wax melts; timeless jewellery from Love Ireland Silver; a young local vendor, new this year, Willow Rose Gaffney (10 years old, a pupil at Gaelscoil na Rithe); home baked delights of muffins, tray bakes and
cupcakes; knitted items from babywear to crazy hat gang; laser craft, resin items, toy figures, books for all ages; Leona Fay – woodturner, known for creating beautiful functional pieces from locally sourced, naturally fallen wood. A Craft Market will take place in the Court House, with local crafters and knitters; little Irish Birdie,
Memory Frames, Jewellery, Art & much more.
At Dunshaughlin Harvest Festival, we are passionate about sustainability and
reducing our emissions and environmental footprint over the coming years. The sustainability team aims to achieve this through working closely with our festival goers, vendors, volunteers and local organisations. This year, all our food vendors will be using only compostable food-ware and packaging, which means that festival
goers can dispose of their food related waste in the brown bins provided onsite. All of the proceeds from our RE-TURN scheme will again be donated to Dunshaughlin Tidy Towns, to help them keep the village beautiful throughout the year. Keep an eye out for the orange RE-TURN bins to help us achieve our sustainability goals.
Our goal for 2026 is to go SUP free, and no single use plastics will be sold or permitted at next year’s festival.
The kids are very well catered for, with a bouncy zone, inflata-zone, petting farm, science, puppet and magic shows, fairground rides, face-painting. . . the list goes on!
Harvest Festival wristbands (15 per day or 25 for both Saturday AND Sunday) gives access to the fairground rides; bouncy zone; inflatazone, and won’t be beaten for value! Sensory friendly fairground rides and bounce zone from 11 -12pm each day.
The festival train, kindly sponsored by Go Fuels, is free of charge this year, so enjoy the view as the train makes its way around the park.
New events this year include a model railway exhibition in St. Patrick’s Hall; the National Reptile Zoo; a tightwire circus show and the new inflatazone, featuring laser tag, bungee basketball, kick and stick darts, and the gladiator challenge, all in the park. Bounce into the fun with our brand-new Giant Volleyball – bigger ball, great craic and perhaps less predictable than you might think! Join the action at this year’s festival and see who can rise to the challenge!
Entertainment on the Big Top stage during Saturday and Sunday will be an eclectic mixture of talent by local bands including Shooting Stars Choir; the Voculeles, Trad Cheoil Dun Seachnaill, and the Navan Silver Band.
Local music and dance schools will have a chance to show the talents of their students to families and friends. Dunshaughlin Dance will give a high energy performance on Sunday, which will showcase their award winning routines from the International Dance Games in Spain, where they brought home major titles for Ireland earlier this year. Expect passion, power, and unforgettable talent from some of the best dancers in Dunshaughlin and now the world! You won’t want to miss it!
For the full programme of events, see www.dunfest.com, scan the QR code or see the printed programme, available at SuperValu, Dunshaughlin checkouts.