After the success of last year Bonamh Market will be back again on Saturday 22nd August in Castlebar in conjunction with Mayo Heritage Week and with Craftworks Mayo. It will take place in Rush Street which will be set up like an old market.

Bonamh Market was very much a part of Castlebar and, in the past, men and women, and sometimes children, came to Rush St and sold their pigs, calves, cabbage, etc. every Saturday.

Rush Street is so called because rushes were spread on the road to absorb the droppings of the animals. The calf market was centered around the Rush St/Charles St. area and Bonamh Market was turned into this market. A baby chick market was held as well as a dillisk stall on the bridge. Large trucks full of clothes used to park and sell the stuff off the back.

This year there will be the forge, thatchers, basket weavers and food stalls. The centrepiece will be ‘the pig on th spit’. Musicians and dancers will perform on bales of hay during the day. A busking competition will take place on the day.

There will be also plenty of novelty games with a farming twist for all to try out, face painters, bouncy castles, Elvery’s football challenge and a display of old cars, old tractors and farm machinery.

New this year will be the Bonamh Market Piggy Grand Prix, a night race, where pigs will run and trot like virtual horses.

After the race meeting there will be music on the street until 11.30pm.