Longford Lights

Longford Lights has established itself as County Longford’s premier festival, attracting over large crowds annually between 2022–2025. The Longford Lights festival is an outdoor art exhibition of illumination-based art installations made by local communities and professional artists. The festival is extremely popular with regular attendances of over 11,000 people. The event has played a key role in activating the local arts community, boosting domestic tourism in the north midlands region, and generating widespread positive coverage in both local and national media.

Community engagement is at the heart of Longford Lights. In 2025, the festival involved 20 community groups and more than 1,800 Longford citizens in the creation of artworks for the exhibition. Looking ahead, the 2026 edition will build on this success, with greater capacity and an expanded presence across the town.

Traditionally, the main site for Longford Lights has been Connolly Barracks. However, due to upcoming development works on the site, the venue will not be available in 2027. To prepare for this and to further increase town centre footfall, the 2026 festival will expand into new spaces in Longford Town

In 2023, Longford County Council’s Arts Service invited Mide Arts Group to participate in Longford Lights 2024 as a partner. Mide’s role in the festival has grown since then. The festival has been generously supported by a wide range of funding partners including The Arts Council of Ireland, Creative Ireland Longford- and Westmeath, Longford Tourism and Longford Nighttime Economy.