Puck Fair
Always 10 to 12 August, whatever the days of the week. In practice the town closes and the pubs open from the evening of the 9th.
Runs every year
Puck Fair is the oldest fair in Ireland and the strangest thing you can stumble into on the Ring of Kerry. For three days every August a wild mountain goat is caught, crowned King Puck by the Queen of Puck Fair, and raised onto a stand above the square in Killorglin before being released back onto the mountain.
The goat is up there for far less time than the fair's reputation suggests. Until 2022 he spent all three days and nights on the stand. Since 2023 he is raised only briefly after the coronation and again for the dethroning on the last day, roughly an hour at a time, with a vet checking him across the three days. If seeing King Puck aloft is the reason you are going, time your visit around those two moments rather than assuming he is up there all week.
It is free, it is loud, and it fills Killorglin completely. If you are driving the Ring during Puck Fair, expect the town to be effectively closed to through traffic in the evenings and book a bed weeks ahead. If crowds are not your thing, drive the loop anticlockwise and do Killorglin first thing in the morning.
One thing the official dates do not tell you: the fair effectively starts the evening before. Killorglin closes Market Street and Lower Bridge Street from 6pm on 9 August, and the pubs run welcome nights from then, so the town is already busy and largely undrivable on the Sunday evening before Gathering Day.
How it runs
- Gathering Day, 10 August Horse fair at Evan's Field on the Tralee road from early morning The coronation parade winds through town at 5pm, with the crowning at 5.30pm.
- Fair Day, 11 August Cattle fair on Langford Street at dawn Then street entertainment, a funfair and music all day and late into the night.
- Scattering Day, 12 August King Puck dethroned at 6pm Fireworks over the river at midnight close the fair.
