When: Sunday 19 July – Monday 3 August 2026
Where: Wicklow Town — harbour, Market Square, Riverwalk, Black Castle and venues around town
Cost: Free (a handful of workshops and tours are ticketed)
More info: wicklowregatta.com
The Regatta is back for its 148th year, which makes it the oldest festival in the country and comfortably the biggest thing that happens on our doorstep all summer. It's already underway, and it runs right through to the August bank holiday Monday.
It's a genuine community festival rather than a ticketed event: almost everything is free, run by volunteers, and paid for through sponsorship and duck race tickets. Two weeks of races, music, workshops and general mayhem, with a lot of it aimed squarely at kids.
Worth putting in the calendar
- Singing pubs — a long-running Regatta tradition where the town's pubs each put on an hour-long show of local singers, dancers and comedians. On most nights of the festival, usually kicking off around 9.30pm. Get there early if you want a seat.
- Fleadh Friday (Fri 31 July) — trad music in Market Square from 7pm with Wicklow Comhaltas and Irish dancers, plus a pop-up Gaeltacht in the High Court Bar for anyone brave enough to trot out the cúpla focal.
- Family Day (Sat 1 Aug, 2–5pm) — St Patrick's National School pitch. Outdoor games, wellie throwing, fancy dress, teddy bears' picnic and the emergency services out in force.
- Music in the Square (Sat 1 & Sun 2 Aug) — live bands in Market Square from the afternoon until late both nights.
- Splash Sunday (Sun 2 Aug, from 10am) — free paddle-boarding and sailing taster sessions at Wicklow Harbour. Sailing needs to be booked in advance; paddle-boarding is first come, first served.
- Duck Race (Sun 2 Aug, 1.30pm) — over a thousand rubber ducks down the Vartry. Tickets are €2, or three for €5, sold at every Regatta event, and it's what keeps the rest of the festival free.
- Raft Race (Sun 2 Aug, 3pm) — homemade rafts, oil drums, questionable engineering, Watson's Pier. One of the best spectator events of the year.
- Fireworks (Sun 2 Aug, 11pm) — the grand finale over the harbour.
- Rowing Club Regatta (Mon 3 Aug, 10am) — the racing the whole thing is named after, out on the harbour.
There's plenty more besides: treasure hunts, heritage walks, a dog show, the bar staff pint-carrying race, astronomy at the Sailing Club, and a long list of kids' workshops at the De La Salle Pastoral Centre. Several of the workshops need registering in advance and they fill quickly, so check the full programme on the Regatta site.
Getting there from Hawk's Bay
Everything is within a short drive or a walk into town. Parking around the harbour and Market Square gets tight on the big days — Family Day, Splash Sunday and the fireworks especially — so it's worth walking in or heading down early if you're driving. The Riverwalk is a handy way in on foot for anything happening around Parnell Bridge or the Brass Fox.