The Muff Festival

Over the August Bank Holiday weekend each year Muff is a mass of colour and crowds.  Of course this is all due to Muff Festival taking place.

Muff Festival all started over discussions, following a recent stretch of good weather, in a local bar back in 1981.  The idea was floated to have a sports festival over a weekend in the village to make the most of the weather and holiday time.  Hence the idea of a sports festival in Muff was born..

Four Day Extravaganza

The following article was printed in the Canary Islands - "Island Sun" newspaper in 2000 which we think sums up Muff Festival quite well:

Muff festival a hit in Spain.

The Muff Festival is really too much to be believed.  Held in the town of Muff, County Donegal, this four day extravaganza hosts a veritable galaxy of daft competitions, street partying, parades and, naturally, copious consumption of alcohol - guaranteed to leave you reeling and giggling for a long time after the strains of the final fiddle die away.

There are competitions for the finest garden, talent show competitions, and a Wild Irish Rose competition on Saturday morning - when the most beautiful entrant gets to head up the parade.  The parade consists of floats, brass bands, Wild Irish Roses and 100s of people in fancy dress.

More competitions follow with a pig race to attend, a three hour guided hill walk through the stunning hilly peninsula and then digger races.  Then there are sheaf throwing contests, treasure hunts, a bonnie baby competition and a Strongest Man-in-the-Northwest, lorry pulling competition.....If, by this time, you're still standing, then trot along to the open-air ceilidh to set-dance and reel late into the Sunday night.  On Monday, you can watch the pitch and punt, a Gaelic football match and a horse-shoe throwing contest.

Meanwhile the pubs are packed with revellers involved in all kinds of strange goings-on.  If you wander into a pub looking a bit silly, then beware.  Some become impromptu courts of law in which a judge presides over the rabble.  If you're fined for looking a little weird, then you must pay a ₤5 or ₤10 fine to charity to escape the bar, or use the gift of your gab to defend yourself.  And just remember it’s the loquacious Irish you'll be competing against!  Then again, if you happen to walk into the right bar at the crucial moment, you can win a walkie talkie doll which is a real person inside the box.  Hmmm.

This festival is too bizarre, too fun, too ridiculous to miss out on.  If you need a spot of cheering up, then it really is a must!  And you can't possibly complain about the price - because there isn't one."