Volunteers needed for annual Carlow Pride Festival 2026 with exciting line-up
The Carlow Pride Festival, now in its seventh year, aims to educate the general public on the LGBTQ+ community in Carlow
Carlow Pride Festival 2026 is fast approaching and everyone is encouraged to get involved to show support and have fun.
Founded in 2019 the first Carlow Pride Festival attracted 3,500 attendees for both the marching parade and main event in Carlow’s beautiful town park along the River Barrow.
The festival will be held in Carlow on Sunday July 12th and will include exciting live performances on the Yahoo stage.
The festival starts at 1.30pm with a walking procession through the town.
Performances will include headliner AIDXNG as well as SAOL, Dance Republic and Ari McEvoy.
The aim of the festival is to educate the general public, LGBTI+ people about LGBTI+ culture current events and community concerns.
“We aim to be a positive example for the community. We aim to create an environment for networking, outreach, support service and leadership opportunities for LGBTI+ people, families and friends,” Carlow Volunteer Centre said.
Carlow Volunteer Centre is seeking volunteers to help out with the festival.
Volunteers will help on the day with public information, crowd control, stewarding and clean up afterwards.
Volunteers are needed from 10am to 6pm on the day.
The chairperson of the festival John Paul Payne has a long history of LGBT+ advocacy in Ireland and abroad.
He has been acting chairperson for the festival since it’s inception in 2019.
When he worked as a reporter and co-host for a national television show in North America covering all current affairs LGBT+ stories, he realised that LGBT+ people from Carlow, and rural Ireland, sometimes didn’t have a voice.
John Paul works as a makeup artist and has his own studio in Killeshin, Co. Carlow. He launched his own cosmetics line in 2019.
He won the Volunteer Ireland Award for Arts, Culture & Media in 2019.
The inclusion officer for the festival Ryan was born and raised in Carlow town. He joined Carlow Pride because he wanted to be part of the change in Carlow, to help make it a more welcoming place for members of the LGBT+ community.
Ryan himself identifies as bisexual and his mission is to break down the stigma and barriers that bisexual people face.
When he is not working with Carlow Pride, Ryan enjoys participating in local theatre groups and playing music. He has recently finished a degree in Applied Social Studies from Carlow College St Patricks and he is looking forward to what the future holds.
Ryan represents Carlow Pride Festival on the committee of the Ireland Pride Network, which is a network of pride organisers from around Ireland currently facilitated by the European Pride Organisers Association.
For those interested in volunteering at the festival, find the link to apply here.