The 50th Galway International Arts Festival runs from Monday 12 to Sunday 25 July 2027 across Galway city and county. There are no general exhibitor stands to book. Businesses can take part with a food pitch at the Festival Garden or the Big Top, through a sponsorship or partnership, with a council street trading licence, or by promoting from their own premises. This checklist covers the print and display side of each of those routes. Permissions, dates and official details always come from Galway International Arts Festival itself.

Key dates and how businesses take part

The festival recorded 472,000 attendances in 2026 over 14 days. For a business, where the crowds gather matters more than the headline number. They gather in the Festival Garden in Eyre Square, at the Big Top on gig nights, and on the city streets during the free spectacles. Here is what is confirmed for 2027 and where each route starts.

What you need to know	Details
Dates	Monday 12 to Sunday 25 July 2027, the 50th festival
Where	Over 30 venues across Galway city and county
Opening hours	Set per venue and event. In 2026, Festival Garden trading ran 11am to 10pm daily and Big Top trading ran on gig evenings only
Food trading	Festival Garden and Big Top only, food vendors only, via the GIAF traders page. The 2026 applications closed on 29 May; 2027 dates and fees are not yet published
Sponsors and partners	Through the festival's become a sponsor page
Street trading nearby	A Galway City Council Special Events Licence, separate from GIAF

In practice, your application or licence is the first deadline, not your print order. In 2026, trader applications closed about six weeks before the festival opened, so keep an eye on the traders page from spring.

Can my business book a stand at the festival?

Not in the trade show sense. The festival has no exhibitor hall and no stand booking form. If you set up a branded table on the street without permission, you can quickly lose your kit. The approved routes are narrower, and each one changes what you should print.

If you sell food, you have the clearest way in, but pitches are scarce and the Traders Manager allocates them. Sponsors and partners (current partners include Heineken and University of Galway) agree activations directly with the festival, so your stand size and position come out of that conversation. For anything else, ask through the festival's contact page.

If you want to trade on the street near the festival, Galway City Council needs your Special Events Licence application at least two weeks before the event. Include a tax clearance certificate, evidence of insurance and an event management plan. The licence costs €100 per day or part of a day.

Whichever route you take, get written permission and the exact footprint before you order. We'd much rather print your banner once, at the right size.

Food traders: print to GIAF's signage rules

If you get a Festival Garden pitch in one of GIAF's 3m x 3m marquees, you don't design your own fascia. GIAF designs the marquee signage artwork (2.8m wide by 0.4m high) and checks all signage and menu boards before the festival. Send your menu board artwork for approval early rather than printing it first.

You do supply your own promotional material, and that's where we come in. All fabrics on site must be flame-proofed. Cooking areas must be enclosed on three sides, with a roof made of waterproof, flame-retardant material. Mention the GIAF requirement when you ask us for a quote so we can choose the material to suit. Read the current trader terms on the traders page too, because they set that year's rules, including insurance. Single-use plastics and polystyrene aren't allowed on site, so plan your counter and serving kit around that.

At the Big Top, trading runs on gig evenings, so choose displays that read well in evening light. A lightbox behind the counter stays visible after the sun goes down.

Sponsors, licensed traders and Galway premises

Sponsor activations usually need the most kit. That means a backdrop people want to be photographed against, a counter, and flags that mark you out from across a crowd. A step-and-repeat media wall or a portable fabric wall handles the photos. A pop up counter gives staff a base without closing off the space. If your activation sits behind fencing or barriers, heras fencing covers turn plain metal into branding.

For shops, cafés, pubs and hotels, the festival comes to your door, but be careful with the footpath. Signs, tables and chairs on a public footpath need a Galway City Council Section 254 licence, and the council can remove unlicensed items and issue a €150 on-the-spot fine. The council's shopfront guidelines also say café barriers shouldn't carry advertising, and sandwich boards are generally to be avoided. Our advice is to put your main branding on private property. That could be inside the door, in a courtyard or beer garden, or on a double sided pull up banner just inside the entrance. If you have a courtyard, printed deckchairs give people a reason to stay.

Your Galway festival stand checklist

Copy this into your planning document and tick items off as you go. Skip anything your route doesn't allow.

Permission and measurements

Written approval from GIAF, the council or the venue, with your exact footprint
Height limits, fixing rules and any signage approval process
Power access (and whether extension leads are allowed), plus Wi-Fi or mobile signal for card payments
Insurance that meets the current terms

Artwork

Final measurements, bleed and safe zones confirmed
Images at full resolution and brand colours checked
One clear message, your logo and a QR code that can be read from a few metres away
Proof approved before anything goes to print

Display kit

Backdrop or fabric wall sized to the pitch
Pull up banners facing the approach
Printed tablecloth to hide stock and storage
Flags for height, with the right bases or ground spikes
Lighting for evening trading

On the day

Stock, storage and a basic repair kit (cable ties, spare clips, tape)
Staff rota with breaks, emergency contacts and printed lanyards so visitors know who to ask
Lead capture with GDPR consent wording on the form
A clear walkway with room for wheelchair users
Waste and recycling plan

Pack down

Graphics dried before rolling, then stored in their bags
Damaged parts noted so they're fixed before your next event

Displays that suit an arts festival crowd

An arts audience notices design. Corporate greys that look fine at the RDS can feel flat against Galway's stone streets and festival colour. Use the brighter colours in your brand palette and give the artwork space. Keep the copy short: one main message, large type, strong contrast and a QR code that leads somewhere worth visiting.

Indoors, in a hotel lobby or venue foyer, hanging banners put your brand above head height, where crowds can't block it. Tension fabric banner stands also look cleaner than a row of roller banners. Outdoors, in an approved space, teardrop flags and feather flags give you height without taking up much ground. A branded gazebo keeps staff and stock dry.

The festival already bans single-use plastics on site, so an eco choice in your display kit fits right in. Our eco friendly pull up banners, PVC free banners and eco friendly printed tablecloths give you the same impact with less plastic. The rest of our eco friendly range covers most of what a festival stand needs.

Built for Galway weather

In mid to late July, Galway can give you sunshine one hour and Atlantic rain the next, often with wind behind it. The Festival Garden and Big Top are mostly outdoors, so anything you put up has to cope with that.

For outdoor banners on barriers or fencing, we'd go with mesh banners, because the wind passes through instead of turning the banner into a sail. PVC free mesh banners do the same job if you want the eco option. Roller banners made for indoors won't last outside, so choose an outdoor pull up banner with a weighted base. Use water weights on hard ground and spikes on grass, and weight every gazebo leg.

The one thing we wouldn't skip is checking that nothing you put out blocks a path or an emergency route. In a crowd the size of Eyre Square during a street spectacle, a flag base in the wrong spot is a trip hazard.

Making a small stand pull people in

A well-planned 3m x 3m pitch can hold more attention than a bigger one. Create height with a flag or a tall backdrop. Then put your strongest message where people see it from the main approach, not on a side wall. Keep the table and staff back from the front edge so the entrance stays open and wheelchair users can get in easily.

Give people one simple thing to do, such as tasting a sample, watching a quick demonstration or scanning a QR code for a festival offer with clear terms. Brief staff to greet passers-by with a short, friendly question rather than a sales pitch. They should stand beside the walkway rather than in it and keep their phones out of sight.

Decide before the festival how you'll measure results. Count QR scans, samples given out, sales, enquiries and the number of people who agree to hear from you. Fourteen days gives you time to move a banner on day three if the numbers show it's in the wrong spot.

What to order and when

Work back from your load-in date, not from opening night. At the Festival Garden, you can only arrive and load in by prior arrangement, and no delivery vehicles are allowed once the site opens. A late delivery can't be dropped off mid-afternoon. Once your pitch is confirmed, send us your measurements. Allow time for your own sign-off, GIAF's signage approval if you're a trader, and production, so the kit arrives well before you travel.

We deliver nationwide, so your order can go straight to your Galway premises or office. City centre traffic and event restrictions affect access during the festival, so confirm loading access, drop-off points and collection arrangements with your venue or the festival before you set off. Walking between central venues is often quicker than driving.

If you're also booked for the Galway Races, Puck Fair or the Dingle Food Festival, order hardware you can reuse and just swap the graphics.

FAQs

How much does it cost to trade at the festival?

GIAF's published trader fees for 2026 (ex VAT) were €3,500 for 14 days in a GIAF marquee at the Festival Garden and €4,500 with your own van. At the Big Top, fees were €100 or €200 per gig, depending on the size of your unit. Fees for 2027 may change, so check the traders page. Sponsorship prices aren't published. We quote display kit per job, based on what your pitch needs.

Which festival events are free, and how do tickets work?

According to the festival FAQs, all street spectacles and visual art galleries are free, and free events are marked in the programme. Tickets for paid events are sold online, with group discounts for 10 or more people and no refunds or exchanges. Footfall around Eyre Square peaks during the free street events, so plan your staffing around them.

Where are the main festival venues?

The Festival Garden is in Eyre Square. The Heineken Big Top is at Fisheries Field on the banks of the River Corrib, and the Festival Gallery and Festival Box Office are on William Street. Theatre venues include the Black Box Theatre on Dyke Road and the Town Hall Theatre.

What is the best way to travel to Galway for the festival?

Galway is 194km from Dublin, 80km from Shannon Airport and 195km from Cork. The festival's Galway visitor page has a section on where to stay. If your team needs to be in the city for installation days, book rooms early. Look for somewhere within walking distance of your pitch, with parking if you're bringing kit.

Is the festival accessible, and what does that mean for my stand?

The festival publishes accessibility information for its venues. For your stand, plan a step-free entrance, a clear route around the counter and graphics low enough to read from a wheelchair.

Get your festival print sorted

Once your permission and dimensions are confirmed, tell us what you're planning and we'll recommend the right kit, quantities and timing. Contact us for a quote.

Galway International Arts Festival Stand Checklist