Portumna Food Fayre with Local Artisan producers

Portumna Food Fayre with Local Artisan producers

by | Jul 2, 2026 | Arts and Culture, Circular Economy, Enterprise Development, Innovation, Portumna, Portumna Fayre

Portumna Food

Fayre

Join us on Patrick’s Street for a day of fresh, local flavour — meet the makers, growers and artisans behind Portumna’s food scene.

Sunday, 5th July 2026 · 12 pm to 3pm · Patrick’s Street, Portumna, Co. Galway.

On the Day — Sunday 5th July

11:00am —  Live on Galway Bay FM with Valerie Hughes

12:00pm — Market opens to the public

12:15pm —  Official Switching-On Ceremony

12:45pm — Interview: Lough Derg Signature Sandwich

1:15pm —    Ollie Turner live on Galway Bay FM

1:20pm — Interviews with Gaelforce and Water Wellness Day

2:00pm — Hurling Championship review with Johnny Kelly, Damien Hayes and Liam Gordon

2:45pm — Interview: Medieval Pageantry

Live music, cookery demos and family activities are running throughout — come down and catch the whole day on Patrick’s Street!

 

Stallholders Listed Below

About Us

Meet the stall holders

Food and Drink

  • John Lancaster – Jam
  • Dora – Pickles
  • Lorin – Bread
  • Whiskfree – Gluten-Free Treats
  • Cinnamon Vanilla
  • Slieve Aughty Honey
  • Fox Covert Farm
  • Ice Cream Peddler
  • Organic Farm Veg Lough Derg Signature Sandwich Chilli Sauce Maker (Birdhill)
  • Mary Stacks Fields of Athenry – Showcasing Their Produce 
  • Brigid Kinsella – Home Baking
  • Lough Derg Signature Sandwich

Arts and Crafts

  • Kerry Kissane & Vanessa Patterson
  • Laura – Arts and Crafts
  • Lillie – Knitting
  • Patricia Lynch – Knitted Baby Cardigans
  • LS Loft – Cards
  • Palm-Free Soap 
  • Sceal Lorrha
  • Brigid Kinsella  – Arts and Crafts

Clothing and Vintage

  • Avia – Vintage Clothing –
  • Mary Stacks – T-Shirts & Printing 
  • Anna – Clothes

Books and Family Fun

  • Workhouse – Books
  • Lancaster Lego – Lego Display
a man sitting in a chair next to a woman
a man sitting in a chair next to a woman

Patrick’s Street Comes Alive!

Portumna Food Fayre started as a simple idea — get the town’s producers, makers and neighbours together on one street for one day. What it’s grown into is something bigger: a chance to taste, browse and chat with the people behind South Galway’s food and craft scene. Rain or shine, the stalls go up, Patrick’s Street comes alive, and Portumna does what it does best — shows up for its own.

Portumna Festival Season 2026

“There’s nowhere quite like Patrick’s Street on Fayre day — the whole town turns out, and you can taste it in every stall.”

About the Fayre

Patrick’s Street closes to traffic for the day as local food producers, artisan makers and growers set up stall for Portumna’s Food Fayre. Expect fresh seasonal produce, homemade goods, and a chance to meet the people growing and making food right here in South Galway — plus live music / cookery demos / kids’ activities.

 

What It’s All About

Local Producers

Meet the farmers and growers bringing fresh, seasonal produce straight from South Galway to your table.

Handmade Artisanal Goods

Fresh, homemade and homegrown — jam, bread, honey, pickles and produce from South Galway’s own kitchens and farms.

Original Arts and Crafts

Original art, knitwear, cards and crafts, handmade by the people who make them.

 

Vintage Finds

Vintage finds, clothing, gifts and a Lego display for the kids — a stall for every taste.

 

Keep it Local

Every stall on the day is an independent local business. Shopping here keeps it in the community.

Shop Local
a woman sitting on the back of a car

Stay Connected

Innovation from the West: Galway Start-ups Making Waves

Innovation from the West: Galway Start-ups Making Waves

by | Sep 1, 2025 | Digital Transformation, Enterprise, Enterprise Development, Innovation, Recurring Series

Start-ups aren’t born only in cities. Across Ireland, small towns and rural villages are proving that creativity, resilience, and ambition can thrive far from the traditional centres of enterprise.

From agri-tech breakthroughs to artisan cheesemakers, rural innovators are making waves locally and globally.

This post kicks off a new recurring series spotlighting entrepreneurs whose ventures are rooted in community but brimming with ambition.

MartEye (Galway): Reimagining the Livestock Mart

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced marts to close their doors, Galway start-up MartEye stepped up with a digital solution that kept farmers connected to their livelihood. Built from Portershed, the city’s collaborative innovation hub, MartEye turned the age-old auction into a modern, online marketplace.

Today, more than 120 marts across Ireland and the UK use the platform, handling over €4.5 billion in trade since 2020. What began as a crisis response became one of the great agri-tech success stories of rural Ireland—proving that local solutions can scale fast when they meet a real need.

Manna Drone Delivery (Oranmore, Co. Galway): Innovation Takes Flight

In the small town of Oranmore, residents look to the skies not for weather signs but for their dinner. Manna, a start-up specialising in drone delivery, chose Oranmore as one of its pilot sites to test the future of logistics.

What started as an experiment in convenience quickly gained global attention. Manna’s service proved drones could safely and efficiently deliver food within minutes—earning the company $25 million in funding and positioning rural Galway at the cutting edge of technology.

The lesson? Small towns aren’t just places where innovation happens—they can be the testbeds that shape how the world works tomorrow.

Killeen Farmhouse Cheese (Portumna): Global Recognition from Local Roots

A short drive from Portumna town, Killeen Farmhouse Cheese shows how rural craftsmanship can reach the world stage. Founded in 2004 by Marion Roeleveld, Killeen produces award-winning goat and cow gouda from locally sourced milk.

From the kitchen table to global acclaim, Killeen has taken home top honours including Supreme Champion at the Irish Cheese Awards and medals at the World Cheese Awards. Their story is one of passion, perseverance, and the power of place—demonstrating that international success can emerge from the fields of East Galway.

Lessons from Local Entrepreneurs

What unites these very different stories—digital platforms, drones, and artisan food—is the way they blend local insight with global ambition.

  • Solve local problems first. MartEye started by meeting farmers’ immediate needs.

  • Use small towns as proving grounds. Manna showed that rural Ireland can be a global testing lab.

  • Stay rooted in authenticity. Killeen proves there’s global demand for products that carry the flavour and story of place.

“Innovation doesn’t always look like skyscrapers or city accelerators. Sometimes it looks like a mart yard with Wi-Fi, a drone buzzing over Oranmore, or a cheesemaker in Portumna perfecting her craft.”

What’s Next in the Series

This is just the start. In future posts, Start-up Stories from Small Towns will spotlight more entrepreneurs—those leading in sustainability, creative industries, healthcare, and digital enterprise. Each story is proof that innovation isn’t confined to cities: it belongs everywhere.

Start-up Stories from Small Towns: Entrepreneurs Making Wave

Start-up Stories from Small Towns: Entrepreneurs Making Wave

by | Sep 1, 2025 | Enterprise, Enterprise Development, Innovation

Start-ups aren’t just born in big cities or tech parks. Across Ireland’s small towns and villages, entrepreneurs are building businesses that are innovative, resilient, and deeply rooted in community. These ventures often emerge from local needs, creative sparks, and the determination to make rural life not just sustainable, but thriving.

Why Small Towns Breed Big Ideas

Smaller communities bring unique advantages for start-ups:

  • Strong local networks where trust and word-of-mouth support can accelerate growth.

  • Lower costs of living and working, making it easier to test ideas without huge overheads.

  • Rich cultural and natural resources, which can inspire products and services tied to place.

  • Supportive ecosystems like LEADER, Local Enterprise Offices, and the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund.

When entrepreneurs tap into these strengths, their businesses carry a story that resonates well beyond their town borders.

Stories from the West

  • The Courthouse Hub, Portumna — not just a co-working space, but a launchpad for digital entrepreneurs who want to live locally and work globally. Already, freelancers and start-ups are moving projects forward from its hot desks and meeting rooms.

  • Food & Craft Start-ups — from farmhouse cheesemakers in East Galway to design studios in Clifden, rural entrepreneurs are proving you don’t need to leave your town to reach international markets. Platforms like Shopify and Etsy make global customers just a click away.

  • Green Energy Innovators — community-led renewable projects, often started by small groups of determined locals, are positioning rural Ireland at the forefront of climate-smart enterprise.

The Challenges

Of course, starting up in a small town isn’t without hurdles:

  • Access to funding can be patchy.

  • Broadband infrastructure, while improving, still lags in some areas.

  • Recruitment can be difficult, especially for specialised roles.

Yet these challenges often become part of the story. Entrepreneurs learn to innovate around constraints, making their ventures more adaptable and resilient.

Support Systems That Matter

Aspiring entrepreneurs in small towns don’t have to go it alone:

Inspiration for What’s Next

When we highlight the achievements of entrepreneurs in small towns, we create a ripple effect. Local stories can inspire others to take the leap, turning hidden ideas into visible ventures.

Innovation doesn’t always look like skyscrapers and venture capital. Sometimes it looks like a converted barn, a refurbished courthouse, or a kitchen table in a Galway village.

Conclusion

The future of enterprise in Ireland isn’t confined to Dublin or Cork. It’s also unfolding in towns like Portumna, Gort, Athenry, and Tuam — where small-town entrepreneurs are making waves with global ambition and local roots.

These start-ups remind us that creativity, resilience, and opportunity live everywhere!

How to Build a Culture of Innovation in Your Town and Village

How to Build a Culture of Innovation in Your Town and Village

by | Sep 1, 2025 | Community Digital Hub, Digital Transformation, Enterprise, Enterprise Development, Remote Work

Innovation doesn’t belong only to Silicon Valley or the big cities. In Ireland’s towns and villages, new ideas are quietly taking root — in cafés, co-working hubs, and even restored courthouses.

Building a culture of innovation locally isn’t about copying global tech giants; it’s about creating the conditions where creativity, resilience, and enterprise can flourish close to home.

Create Collision Spaces

When people collide, ideas spark. That’s why innovation thrives in spaces where different groups can meet and exchange perspectives.

  • Co-working hubs like the newly reopened Portumna Courthouse, now part of the Connected Hubs network, where freelancers, remote workers, and entrepreneurs can collaborate.

  • Community makerspaces that provide tools and equipment for prototyping.

  • Third places — cafés, libraries, or even GAA clubhouses — that double as informal meeting grounds.

  • Innovation hubs that combine workspace, mentorship, and resources under one roof.

Strengthen Local Education

Education is the soil in which innovation grows. By investing in learning at every age, towns can unlock talent that might otherwise remain hidden.

  • Partner with local schools to promote STEAM education.

  • Establish mentorship programmes linking students with professionals.

  • Advocate for entrepreneurship modules at secondary schools and colleges.

  • Host hackathons or innovation challenges to give young people the freedom to experiment.

Build Supportive Networks

Innovation isn’t a solo pursuit — it thrives in connected communities.

  • Launch a monthly innovation meetup for like-minded individuals.

  • Create a local angel investor circle to fund promising ideas.

  • Develop mentorship pairings between experienced entrepreneurs and newcomers.

  • Form industry-specific groups (for food, tech, arts, or tourism) to deepen collaboration.

Celebrate Local Success

Momentum builds when achievements are visible. Recognition inspires others to join in.

  • Highlight local innovators in community newsletters or online platforms.

  • Host an annual innovation award to showcase creativity.

  • Share success stories through podcasts and social media.

  • Create a “wall of fame” — even a digital one — to celebrate entrepreneurs, makers, and changemakers.

Secure Public Support

Local authorities can be powerful allies in building an innovation ecosystem.

  • Advocate for innovation-friendly policies and regulations.

  • Seek public funding through schemes like the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund (RRDF) or LEADER.

  • Encourage public–private partnerships to scale projects.

  • Streamline the process of starting and sustaining a business locally.

Embrace Diversity and Inclusion

True innovation comes from a mix of voices and perspectives.

  • Ensure innovation spaces and programmes are accessible to all.

  • Actively involve underrepresented groups.

  • Create scholarships and supports for disadvantaged entrepreneurs.

  • Host multilingual or intercultural events where appropriate.

Connect Globally, Stay Local

Innovation doesn’t mean turning your back on tradition — it means blending local roots with global reach.

  • Partner with hubs and networks across Ireland and abroad.

  • Invite guest speakers and experts to inspire new thinking.

  • Help local entrepreneurs access international conferences and markets.

  • Share local stories on global platforms to build reputation and pride.

Foster a Culture of Risk-Taking

Innovation requires courage. Not every idea will work — and that’s the point.

“Innovation isn’t about getting it right the first time. It’s about creating the freedom to try, to learn, and to adapt.”

  • Celebrate “noble failures” as learning opportunities.

  • Create safe spaces for experimentation.

  • Share stories of persistence through setbacks.

  • Recognise progress as much as breakthrough success.

Start Small, Think Big

Cultures of innovation grow step by step.

  • Begin with pilot projects to show quick wins.

  • Document and share the town’s innovation journey.

  • Be patient with gradual culture change.

  • Keep a long-term vision, while celebrating short-term successes.

Conclusion

Every town has the potential to become an innovation hub in its own unique way. By nurturing spaces, networks, education, diversity, and courage, rural communities can create opportunities, solve local problems, and position themselves for a vibrant future. In towns like Portumna, we can already see this shift underway — a reminder that innovation doesn’t have a postcode. It belongs to everyone, everywhere.

Portumna – Sustainability through Digital

Portumna – Sustainability through Digital

by | Jan 11, 2023 | Circular Economy, Climate Action, Community Digital Hub, Digital Transformation, Enterprise, Enterprise Development, Heritage, Remote Work, Tourism, Waste Action Plan

Portumna has been shortlisted as a finalist in Digital Changemakers category for the  .IE Digital Town for the work of the Wild Geese. Winners will be announced on 10 June 2021 at a virtual awards ceremony. 

The .IE Digital Town Awards 2021 are the first pillar of activity under .IE Digital Town which has been developed to address digital enhancement and adoption in Ireland and the Awards promote awareness, knowledge, use and understanding of digital in Ireland by its citizens, businesses and communities. 

They also highlight the benefits and possibilities of digital and celebrate the digital achievements of local towns, big and small. 

The Wild Geese is a community group, conceived, nurtured and headquartered in Portumna, actively trying to solve the challenges faced by the rural towns, villages, and communities in East Galway, on their knees long before the pandemic. 

The group is made up of a strong team of community activists with a diverse and impactful skill set in communications, networking, business, arts and culture and social enterprise with a passionate interest in the renewal of the main towns and villages of East Galway.

They have a healthy collaborative relationship with Irish Rural Link, Galway County Council, Waterways Ireland, Failte Ireland and Discover Lough Derg collaborating on strategic programs for rural repair, restoration and rejuvenation.

Remote working, co-working spaces, digital threads are emerging connecting our towns and villages like never before.

New ways of working are now opening up to local communities, people are actively searching for sustainable towns to live, work and participate locally. 

The team work closely with digital agency Ourside for the past three years – our mission to onboard the towns of East Galway to their unique digital infrastructure Xplore local. Together we provide training and facilitation sessions with students and volunteers onboarding business, services, sports clubs and community societies onto the platform. 

Xplore was designed with community sustainability in mind and aims to support the tenets of a circular economy.  Xplore believe that our towns have so much to offer, from their rich, buried histories to the shops that line their streets. They are committed to shining a light on the things that make these places so unique, and are devoted to making the path to their discovery that bit shorter.

The Wild Geese hope to be appointed Climate Change Ambassadors with the European Union partnering on Climate Crisis stewardship, education and awareness campaigns.  This will mean they will be supported with digital assets to promote climate action in more practical ways within the community responding to the crisis from the ground up. 

Elina Visnar Malinovska (European Commission) speaks about the ‘climate dispairers’ who say ‘I admit it happens, but I can’t do much about it“. She is emphatic, we need to go to the local level, talking the language of the local, we need to empower the local patriots, as Elena likes to call them.  In every community you will find true friends of the earth.  We are no different here  in Portumna, with the groundbreaking work of An Gairdin Ecology.

In 1994, a small group of came together awakened to the vision of Earth as a living organism, a great web of interconnectedness and interdependent life. They shared the desire to rediscover together who we humans are as a strand of this magnificent web. You could say we shared the desire to ‘come home’ to Earth after a long absence. And so An Gáirdín came into being!

At that time the site of the Rural Domestic School here in Portumna, which had taught agriculture and traditional crafts and skills for a hundred years, became available to us. “To make again a garden of this place” (Elisabeth Roberts) became their motto as they set out to learn to live in communion with one another and with the great diversity of life around us.

The garden needed some rest and healing following its years of generous production. It had time to lie fallow and renew itself before they began to do some organic growing. Over time they welcomed back the hens and ducks. Their house was built on the site of the old dairy and they carefully sourced natural, renewable and recycled material, installing the geo-thermal ground source heating system, a very new technology at the time. 

A small group of those who share An Gáirdín’s vision meet regularly for support, study and reflection. Our most recent undertaking has been the provision of a building, adequate to meet the needs of our expanding range of courses and events. This has been a work of collaboration and every aspect of the building is a demonstration of sustainable practice.

 

 

 

 

Galway Wild Geese – Finalist – Digital Town Awards – 2022

Galway Wild Geese – Finalist – Digital Town Awards – 2022

by | May 21, 2022 | Biodiversity, Circular Economy, Climate Action, Digital Transformation, Enterprise Development, Greenway, Remote Work, Tourism

Galway Wild Geese are thrilled to have have been shortlisted in the Community Digital category of the .IE Digital Town Awards.

 

 

The number and quality of entries was outstanding, so the geese are thrilled to make the shortlist, you can view the full shortlist here:

Shortlist 2022

 

The Awards Ceremony will be a virtual event and will take place on Wednesday 8th June at 4.00pm and will run for one hour.