Speaking of Galway, they have the Galway International Oyster Festival every year in September. Don’t like oysters? How about the Dublin Writer’s festival? or dance festival? Or the Battle for the Bay, or the Gourmet Food Festival in Kinsale. There are more festivals than you can shake a stick at, covering nearly everything you could want to go see in a festival. And then there’s the Puck Fair, a festival that’s over 400 years old, in Killogrlin. It’s decidedly Irish– a few days in August where people fill the streets with live music playing, plenty of drinking, domesticated animals for a cattle fair, and the rest of the fanfare you might expect. And of course, as you might also expect, the St. Patrick’s day festivals in Ireland are jubilant occasions that occur in many towns across the country. There’s just too many great festivals to miss out while you’re there.