Ballybunion Bean Festival
22-23 August 2026
The Barna Way, Ballybunion
Tickets On Sale Soon! Watch this space
The Ballybunion Bean Festival promises to be gas craic again this year. Last year’s festival was so full of beans that we are back due to popular demand. This unique festival focuses on the potential of beans as the most fun and climate friendly food for the future. The programme is full of dynamic talks, walks, workshops and performances as well as delicious, locally grown food.
According to Lily Toomey from the bean team “The future is beans! Beans are an amazing source of protein, perfect for a plant based or a climatarian diet. Beans fix nitrogen in the soil and help local ecosystems to thrive. Beans also provide an opportunity for a new model of food production – from home and community gardens to small and big farmers alike. Growing beans can happen at any scale”.
The Ballybunion Bean Festival was born out of Brilliant Ballybunion, a Creative Climate Action Initiative, supported by Creative Ireland. While growing food, nurturing nature, and creating art together, the newly formed bean team began to imagine a new future for local food production and community resilience in the face of the climate and biodiversity crises.
According to Grainne Toomey ‘The Ballybunion Bean Festival is a blueprint for what is possible – by bringing together local artists, collaborators, chefs, and businesses, it demonstrates how community action can be intentional, meaningful, and fun!’.
Rena Blake, co founder of The Barna Way and Chair of Ballybunion Tidy Towns says, “We are so happy to have the The Ballybunion Bean Festival taking place at The Barna Way, 19 acres of wild meadows and woodland on the doorstep of Ballybunion”.
Lisa Fingleton, the artist with the project says she is very excited about the festival. “I believe very much in the power of creativity and imagination. It can be quite overwhelming to think about all the impacts of climate change. It is really important for communities to create a vision of how we would like the world to be in the future and how we can do this in a way that ensures a just transition for everyone”.
Come join this truly slow food feast. This brand new festival will be gas craic, full of beans and other corny puns.
The Ballybunion Bean Festival would like to invite you to our first event in the Bean Series as we grow together towards the Ballybunion Bean Festival 2026.
