Westival 2026: Westport’s Samhain procession, free events and tickets
by 
Babylon Radio
Listen nowWestival, the Westport Music and Arts Festival, runs from Wednesday 28 October to Sunday 1 November 2026 in Westport, Co. Mayo. Now in its 51st year, it is the oldest music and arts festival in the west of Ireland. This year it marks Samhain with Mórshiúl na Samhna, a free lantern procession through the town on Saturday 31 October.
For newcomers, international students and anyone new to Mayo, Westival is a friendly way to experience Irish Halloween traditions, local music and community arts. Many events are free, and paid tickets are priced event by event.
Details checked on 22 October 2026 against the official Westival website. Prices are listed ticket prices; check availability before you travel.
Westival 2026 at a glance
- Dates: Wednesday 28 October to Sunday 1 November 2026
- Where: venues across Westport, including the Town Hall Theatre, the Old Dunnes Stores Building, Customs House Gallery, W Cinema and the Clew Bay Hotel
- Highlight: Mórshiúl na Samhna, a free Samhain procession, on Saturday 31 October
- Free events: exhibition openings, the procession, a fire show and an open mic folk club
- Tickets: booked event by event through the Westival programme
Free events worth planning around
Mórshiúl na Samhna: Honouring the Ancestors
Mórshiúl na Samhna is created by outdoor arts company LUXE and brings lanterns, music, colour and masks to the streets of Westport. It starts at 7pm on Saturday 31 October in the town centre. Westival is also inviting local families to take part as lantern carriers through a form on its website.
Strix Nebulosa fire show
On Friday 30 October, Galway-based circus artist Strix Nebulosa roams the streets before a fire show at The Clock at 7pm. It is free and family-friendly.
Exhibitions that open the festival
On Wednesday 28 October, Na Cailleacha, ‘About Time’ opens at Customs House Gallery at 6pm, with work by a collective of women artists aged 70 and over. Portraits of Home opens at the Old Dunnes Stores Building at 8pm. Its photographs and audio explore belonging through the voices of people living in Mayo, including many who moved there from elsewhere.
If you are building a new life in Ireland, Portraits of Home is especially relevant. A related workshop runs on Saturday 31 October at 2.30pm (€5).
Music and words for free
- Read Aloud at Westport Library, Friday 30 October, 2pm: an open mic for poetry and prose, with sign-up on the day
- Clew Bay Folk Club at Matt Molloy’s Yard Bar, Sunday 1 November, 4pm
Ticketed picks
- Thursday 29 October: Fishamble’s play King, Town Hall Theatre, 7pm (€24), and songwriter Patrick O’Laoghaire, Clew Bay Hotel, 9pm (€20)
- Friday 30 October: indie-folk singer Dave Lofts, Town Hall Theatre (€32)
- Saturday 31 October: The Brennan Sisters from Connemara, Matt Molloy’s Yard Bar, 2pm (€12), and an interactive Rocky Horror Picture Show with live actors, W Cinema, 9.30pm (€25)
- Sunday 1 November: John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme, Westport Jazz Club at the Clew Bay Hotel, 8pm (€25)
For families
On Saturday 31 October, The Little Prince is a creative workshop (not a performance) for children aged 6 to 10 at the Clew Bay Hotel at 11am (€10). Also that day: Spooky Ukeday with the Westport Ukulele Orchestra at the Town Hall Theatre from 12pm, and the One World Drumming Circle at the Town Hall from 3pm to 5pm (€12). No experience is needed for the drumming.
Getting there
Westport has a train station with services from Dublin Heuston, and most festival venues are within walking distance of the town centre. Late-October weather in Mayo can be wet and windy, so bring a waterproof for the outdoor events and check the Westival website for any changes on the day.
Illustrative archive image: MaSamba performing at the Dún Laoghaire Festival of World Cultures, 30 August 2009. This is not Westival, and the people shown are not connected to this story. Photo: William Murphy, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0. Cropped and resized.