Gallery: Macra’s Mr Personality Festival to return to Kilkenny City venue

Also in attendance was Mayor of Kilkenny, John Coonan who spoke about the importance of festivals like Mr Personality for young people in Kilkenny and indeed rural Ireland.

Twenty-six contestants will take part in the festival this year representing their Macra clubs and regions from all over the country, all believing that they have what it takes to be crowned Mr Personality 2026.

Reigning Mr Personality, Sean Kelly was also at the festival launch and had a few words of wisdom for the 2026 contestants present.

Sean represented North Tipperary last year. “Last year winning Mr Personality was the cherry on top of the cake from my experiences since joining Macra. I joined this brilliant organisation as a very shy, timid, quiet young boy and have grown into the person I am today and I will be forever grateful to Macra for giving not only me, but all the members in this organisation a chance to grow and develop.

“The Mr Personality Festival is not a weekend to be missed, it’s at these festivals where so many of us make friendships and memories that last a lifetime. None of this would happen without the hard work of the committee, to all those who helped out thank you so much for all of the hard work behind the scenes to make this weekend as special as it is”.