Puck Fair

King Puck

Aonach an Phoic, the Irish name, means “fair of the he-goat”. Every year a goat handler goes up into the mountains to catch a goat, which is brought back to town and crowned King Puck by the Queen of Puck, a girl chosen from one of the primary schools of the surrounding district. His crowning signals that the festivities can begin, and on the third day he returns to his home in the mountains. The organisers say the goat’s welfare is overseen by an independent veterinary surgeon, and after objections from animal rights groups King Puck is now displayed on his high stand for only a couple of hours rather than three whole days.

The first day begins early with the horse fair. On the second, the cattle fair is held — not by the committee, but under the charter of 1613. Throughout, there is live music, street entertainment, a funfair that has been part of Puck for more than fifty years, and street food, and the town’s bars have late licences until 3 am.

Lost in antiquity

No one knows when the fair began. The earliest records are from the seventeenth century: a grant allowing the local landlord, Jenkin Conway, to collect a fee on animals brought to the August fair, and a patent of 1613 to hold “a fair on Lammas day and 2 days after”. Some link it to Lughnasa, the pre-Christian start of autumn on 1 August, with the goat as a pagan fertility symbol. A legend tells of a he-goat that fled Cromwell’s soldiers and warned the town of their approach. Another story credits a young Daniel O’Connell, who in 1808 is said to have got round a ban on tolls at cattle, horse and sheep fairs by advertising a goat fair — and hoisting a goat onto a stage.