August 2023

The 2023 Geesala Festival will take place in Geesala from Sunday, 13th August to Sunday, 20th August.

The main event of the festival is the annual horse racing on the beach at Doolough, which is said to have inspired John Millington Synge’s masterpiece, ‘The Playboy of the Western World’. It will take on Sunday 20th August.

Here is a stretch of beach three miles long and is deemed to be the 'best turf' in the country by the Horse Racing Association of Ireland. Visitors will find a bar, live music and delicious local food.

Since the first festival, greyhound racing on that same beach has been added to the programme.

The Geesala Festival is a family-friendly event not to be missed and a traditional entertainment for everybody, children and adults, such as heritage and culture events, horse show-jumping and classes, a dog show, boat racing, children’s activities, a fun fair, angling competitions, live music, clay pigeon shooting and a 10km road race.

This year's festival will be running in conjunction with the new music festival ‘Far West Fest’, which will also be held in Geesala on Friday, 18th and Saturday, 19th August 2023.