The Outing is a totally new concept that is an addition of the popular and long running Matchmaking Festival which has been around for more than a century. This festival runs over five weekends and for the very first time the festival has dedicated its first weekend for the gay and lesbian market.

Before you ask, no this weekend is not just for gays and lesbians and it doesn’t matter if you are taken (lucky you!). We’re inviting anyone and everyone to The Outing, straight or otherwise. Our weekend full of entertainment has something to suit everyone so bring your friends along too!

We’re giving you a weekend of jam-packed entertainment full of traditional activities with a twist ;) We really are making this weekend available to everyone and we are sure that our fantastic line up will leave everyone smiling. Over the three days we have several live acts including London’s favourite drag artist Jonny Woo, Limericks funniest double trouble drag act, Sheila and Madonna. Eurovision winner Niamh Kavanagh will be making an appearance and this is just the start!

A weekend like this wouldn’t be complete without a night full of clubbing! We’re giving you not one, but two sets of fantastic club nights. These aren’t just any club nights! We’re bringing you a selection of Ireland’s best gay clubs and taking them on tour with us. Expect the unexpected. On the nights will be a battle between several DJ’s, sexy stage dancers and fire eaters. Entertainment for one and all! To let you brush over your hangover we’ve teamed up with local tourist companies to offer you the best discounts on some of Ireland’s most popular tourist attractions and activities. From visits to the Cliffs of Moher all the way through to rock climbing, we’ve got you covered. Check out our full list of attractions/activities here.

Make sure you bring your best dresses (boys too) as we will be holding tea dances, céilí dances and who knows we might even teach you how to gay square dance! Oh and did we mention that the whole weekend is hosted by our very own, Panti Bliss, she is expected to rustle up some trouble! If that doesn’t make it the best festival on the planet we don’t know what does! To round things up there’s even word of a few Guinness World Record Attempts, but we’ll keep that under the covers for now ;)

Safe Sex at The Outing

The Outing is committed to education about safer sex practices and has worked with the Gay Health Network (www.ghn.ie) and Man2Man, who offer HIV and sexual health information to gay and bisexual men, and other men who have sex with men. Find them on Facebook here or follow them on Twitter at: @Man2ManIreland

Design & Photography Credits

We would like to thank the following who have contributed their fantastic design, photography and printing skills to our website and promotional materials:
Dónal Mulligan (Website design, branding, logo & visual design)
Edward McCready, CoolMoss Ltd (Promotional Poster designs)
Cian Markey (Press & Promotional Photography)
Eddie McGuinness and John Hawkins (Clare Images)
RealPrint.ie Ennis (Promotional Material Printing)

Sponsorship

We want to thank all of our partners for being so generous and for helping us make The Outing a success in its first year. Our current partners are listed here. If you would like to get involved with The Outing we would love to hear from you! Please email [email protected] for more information.

To request a sponsorship pack please email us with the subject title "Request for Sponsorship Pack" and we will send one on to you in no time.