Next Week You Need To Know About . . . Puck Fair

It’s the oldest street fair in the country, a festival that has been celebrated on the streets of Killorglin, Co Kerry, for centuries. And every year, it makes a temporary celebrity of an unwitting wild mountain goat. There are plenty of fairs and festivals around the country, but there is only one Puck Fair, which runs from August 10th to 12th.

The origin of Puck Fair is the stuff of tall stories and myth, but the tale of a brave mountain goat making its way to Killorglin in advance of Oliver Cromwell’s brutal troops, warning the locals of the rampage that was looming, ranks high on the heroism scale and is the preferred story.

Frank Joy has been the official goat-catcher for the past 22 years, and this year he led his team into the mountains and came back a few hours later with a spectacular specimen to lord it over the fair. He has been named King Paul after Paul Galvin, the Kerry football hero and fashion icon.

As usual, a horse fair and cattle fair will feature, as well as vendors, street entertainers and musical attractions including the Camembert Quartet, the Electric Ceili Band and a Garth Brooks tribute act. See puckfair.ie