Weaving the past into the future: The Dromore Linen Festival

The Dromore Linen Festival is not the product of big budgets or outside organisations, it is a true grassroots project. What began as a chat between a few locals about how to showcase Dromore’s linen past quickly grew legs and blossoming into a full festival programme.

Festival organiser Kerry Freud explains: “It started as an idea over a coffee, talking about how we might remember Dromore’s linen days. It grew into something far bigger than we ever imagined. The community have embraced it wholeheartedly, from sewing bunting to volunteering skills and time, it has become a festival built by the people, for the people.”

More than 400 local children have decorated linen bunting that will adorn the town’s streets, echoing Dromore’s historic reputation for hemstitching. Local groups are volunteering to demonstrate traditional flax processing, weavers and spinners are preparing live displays and the legendary McConville’s Flax Mill and Museum will be opening its doors for a special day of tours and demonstrations.

The programme is as varied as it is exciting, designed to appeal to heritage enthusiasts, makers, families, and anyone curious about Dromore’s story.

• McConville’s Mill Open Day (Sat 20 Sept): Step inside the last working flax mill in Ireland, still powered by its 19th-century waterwheel. Hourly tours will guide visitors through the processes of retting, breaking, scutching, and heckling. A free shuttle bus will run between the mill and the town square.
• Linen Skills & Craft Day (Sat 20 Sept, Town Square): The beating heart of the festival, with live flax demonstrations by the Newtown Menshed, weaving and spinning stations, and a Heritage Craft & Food Market.
• Heritage Gallery (Sat 20 Sept, The Bank Building): Rare photographs, vintage linen artefacts, and contemporary textile art by makers including The Belfast Bow Company, Carol Mackay and Lorna Reid Mullan.
• Talks & Workshops: From pickling demonstrations to jewellery-making, natural dyeing and textile art sessions.
• Evening Gathering (Wed 24 Sept, Town Hall): A panel of experts in ecology, regenerative growing, and textiles will explore ‘The future of flax in Ulster’ as a low-impact crop for a sustainable future.
• The Flax Pod ( Fri 20 Sept, Barrel & Bean): An oral history project inviting locals to share memories of flax fields and mills.

While the festival is rooted in history, it is also about looking forward. Kerry notes: “We want people to see linen not just as something of the past but as something with real potential for the future, for sustainable textiles, regenerative farming and rural resilience. The festival is about weaving those threads together.”

The revival of flax and linen is being reimagined in the context of sustainable craft, regenerative agriculture and community pride. Heritage here is not just nostalgia, it is a driver for rural regeneration and new opportunity.

For visitors, the festival also showcases Dromore itself: its boutiques, cafés, eateries, and independent shops. “It’s a chance to see the town at its best,” Kerry adds, “with heritage on display in the Square and local businesses open for visitors to explore.”

The Dromore Linen Festival is, above all, a celebration of community. From the children’s bunting to the volunteer weavers, from local historians to new generations of makers, this festival has been shaped by the people of Dromore.

Kerry reflects: “I’m so proud of how the community has come together. The response has been overwhelming and my heart could burst with pride for Dromore. This is our story and together we are keeping it alive.”

So mark your diary: September 18-24. Step back into the world of flax and linen, discover the crafts and stories that defined a town and join a community in weaving its past into a sustainable future.

For programme updates and details, follow the Dromore Linen Festival on Facebook or email: [email protected].