Roscommon Pride, the county’s annual celebration of the LGBTQ+ community, will return for its third year from August 17th to 23rd with a packed line-up of events.
The festival will kick off on Monday, August 17th with a discussion between LGBTQ+ authors Niamh Ní Mhaoilean and Chloe Michelle Howarth. This event will be hosted alongside the Bród Book Club in The Quad in Roscommon Town from 7 pm to 9 pm.
Tuesday, August 18th will see a shoe-bedazzling workshop called ‘Bród my Brogues’ taking place, while a screen-printing workshop will be held on Wednesday, August 19th. Both events will be held in The Quad from 7 pm to 9 pm.
On Thursday, August 20th at 8 pm, Roscommon Pride will present ‘Common Threads: An Irish and European Showcase’ in the Roscommon Arts Centre, with LGBTQ+ artists and performers taking to the stage for an evening of performance.
Pride weekend will kick off with an open mic night taking place in Rogue & Co Café at 7 pm on Friday, August 21st. This will be immediately followed by a rip-roaring round of Drag Bingo at 9 pm with drag queen Minnie Buss in The Red Parrot.
Saturday, August 22nd will start with a Drag Brunch in Gleeson’s at 11.30 am. Immediately afterwards, the LGBTQ+ community and allies will gather at The Quad at 2.30 pm for the Pride March, which is the heart of the festival and represents a vital moment for queer visibility in Roscommon.
The Pride March will run through Roscommon Town and end in Loughnaneane Park, where there will be an array of free, family-friendly performances at the Family Fun Day. Local stallholders will also be in the park selling arts and crafts, and there will be food and coffee trucks on site too.
Saturday’s festivities will end with the Pride After Party in Rockford’s from 8 pm until late, where people will be treated to a truly iconic drag show from the acclaimed Athlone-based ‘House of Kwen’ drag house.
Roscommon Pride’s 2026 festival will close out on Sunday, August 23rd with a Ceremony of Love and Remembrance at 3 pm, which pays tribute to those who are no longer with us. The weekend will wrap up with karaoke in The Red Parrot at 6 pm.
Tickets for all events are available at www.roscommonpride.ie
Letter to editor:
Roscommon Pride Committee responds to ‘Enoch Burke’ article
Dear Sir,
Trans and non-binary people are just like everybody else – all they want is to live their lives fully and freely, without fear of discrimination. They are part of our communities and they deserve respect and dignity.
Roscommon Pride wants to reiterate this after an article was published in the Roscommon People (‘Enoch Burke may not be the perfect messenger – but Ireland should not ignore the warning’) which sought to strip trans and non-binary people of their humanity and to position them as a concept to be debated.
Trans people are not a debate, they are human beings – and they deserve to be referred to by whatever pronouns or name they want.
Roscommon Pride represents and stands with the trans community of this county, and we will celebrate and champion our shared humanity at our third annual Pride festival this August. If you too believe in kindness and respect for others, we hope you’ll join us.
Yours faithfully,
The Roscommon Pride committee
Editor replies
I totally reject the assertion (for which no evidence was provided) that the referenced article published in the Roscommon People sought to ‘strip trans and non-binary people of their humanity’.
It did not. This is an unfounded allegation.
The article in question was a perfectly reasonable, balanced opinion column on transgender/related issues.
It was published in keeping with the Roscommon People’s commitment to welcoming (and being open to publish) varying views.
As stated in the original article: ‘If education is being reshaped for the long-term, then the conversation cannot be guided by one worldview only. It cannot invite everyone into the room while treating some views as unacceptable before the discussion even begins’.
The Roscommon People is unequivocally committed to the principle of people living without fear of discrimination and to all people being treated with total dignity.
– Paul Healy, Editor, Roscommon People
