14/07/2026
You couldn’t go to the Races unless you had the hay saved.”
A lovely line from Mary Gilhooly from Athenry, our first early-morning admirer of this year’s PorterShed x Galway Races window display at 15 Market Street.
Our windows are now a historic timeline of 157 photos representing 157 years of the Galway Races.
It follows key moments, course upgrades, race milestones and community memories from one of Galway’s most important annual events.
Archival photos were not always easy to find, so some images are as close to the year as possible. Where we could not source a suitable image, the Galway Plate moment is marked in text. All photos are source referenced.
Mary kindly shared what the Races meant to families and rural communities growing up. Her story captures exactly why this event means so much to Galway, far beyond the track.
Drop by PorterShed at 15 Market Street and take a look through a piece of Galway history in our window.