All the fun of the fair — What is it about Ireland’s love affairs with festivals?

From goats to roses, the variety of festivals on offer here reflects the history, tradition, sense of community and quirkiness of life on this island

A wild mountain goat is crowned 'King Puck' by Alesha Williams, Queen of Puck Fair, at the annual crowning ceremony in the town square of Killorglin in 2022. A goat, standing beneath a statue of a goat in the middle of a town nationally synonymous with goats, being venerated — not as some sort of a God — but, just an actual goat, is as straightforward as the Puck Fair gets. Photo: Don MacMonagle

Try to describe the annual Puck Fair in Kilorglin to the uninitiated, and you should expect a few raised eyebrows. 

Every year a group of locals head up into the MacGillycuddy's Reeks mountain range and catch a feral goat. The goat is brought back to the town and the "Queen of Puck", traditionally a young school girl from one of the local primary schools, crowns the goat "King Puck".