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music · Wednesday 4 November 2026 · Various 
Tommy Makem Folk Festival, Keady 2026
At Various Venues, Keady · Keady, Co. Armagh
Part of a recurring programme
Only the published dates are confirmed for this programme.
At Various Venues, Keady · Keady, Co. Armagh
Only the published dates are confirmed for this programme.
The Tommy Makem Folk Festival runs in Keady, Co. Armagh from Wednesday, 4 November 2026 to Sunday, 8 November 2026. Events are spread across the town, with most of the programme based at TMAC, the Tommy Makem Arts and Community Centre on Cow Fair. The festival carries the name of Keady-born singer and storyteller Tommy Makem, born on 4 November 1932, who spent years performing with the Clancy Brothers, so the opening day is his birthday.
The programme mixes concerts, workshops, walks and archive talks. The festival headline concert brings The Dubliners Encore and Rory Makem to TMAC, and a traditional variety concert puts a bill of guest artists on the same stage. Later in the week a trad disco with DJ Conor Crimmins runs at the Twisted Fox Bar, for over-18s only.
The daytime events lean towards taking part. Frances Kennedy runs a storytelling workshop, Linda Nugent leads an Aran knitting workshop called The Perfect Stitch, and there are two traditional singing workshops, one in English with Piaras Ó Lorcáin and one in Irish with Bláithín Mhic Cana. Lucille Conway brings Ceol na nÓg, a trad session for tots, into the TMAC Studio, and Broná Haughey teaches an Irish language class for beginners. Willie Monaghan leads In the Footsteps of Tommy walks around the town, with an Irish-language version, I gcoiscéimeanna Thomaí, on its own day. The Oriel Traditional Music Archive presents Sarah in the Archives, and Stephanie Makem performs Bard.
Keady is about 15 km south-west of Armagh city, on the road towards the Monaghan border. TMAC and the TMAC Studio host most of the programme, with the trad disco at the Twisted Fox Bar. Check the listing for each event on the festival website before you set out.
Keady grew up around linen, with mills dammed along the Callan and the Clea from the 1750s, and the Kirk Monument still standing in the middle of the town. Two miles north, the eleven-arch Tassagh Viaduct has carried no trains since 1957. There is more to see in Keady and across Co. Armagh.
Heading to Various Venues, Keady in Keady? Armagh has plenty more to see. Read the Keady area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.
We do not yet have a suitable Armagh tour in our reviewed collection that starts locally. Use the IrelandMe tour finder to compare bookable experiences for the rest of your trip.