A massive rural Ireland dating festival is kicking off at the end of the month

Dating? Festivals? Rural Ireland?

Doesn't get much better than that, tbqh. If you're a lonely person who'd like someone around to hold hands with, have a meal beside, or simply sit in total silence with while you both consider the futility of existence and how nothing really matters anyway, look no further than the Lisdoonvarna Matchmaking Festival. Kicking off at the end of the month, the six-week-long event is expecting about 40,000 people to attend the small Co Clare town to finally find the man or woman of their dreams. There'll be dancing, there'll be shifting, there'll be matchmaking from the one and only Willie Daly, who is absolutely committed to matching everybody up with their soulmate from the comfort of his 'office' - the Matchmaker Bar. According to him: "Rural Ireland can be a lonely place. There's a lot of lonely men, farmers left behind, while a lot of women are based in the cities, so the festival is a great place for them to meet up." You said it, Willie. https://www.instagram.com/p/BmbE4SlAXt_/?taken-by=matchmaking_lisdoonvarna People from ages 18 to 80 will be hitting up the dating festival for some dances, some music sessions, and even a bit of speed dating to hurry things along if they're desperate enough. (... Which we are.) The Matchmaking festival has been a thing for quite a while now, but according to the event's website, even though a good bit has changed since those days, matchmaking is - at the end of the day - "an Irish tradition that's as old as time."

"It began in Lisdoonvarna when visiting gentry came to ‘take the waters’ at this spa town and looked to match their children with someone suitable from the upper classes. Parents would bring their children together at social gatherings, sporting events and musical evenings – and all being well, courtships would blossom. "The opening of the West Clare Railway in 1887 meant Lisdoonvarna increased in popularity as a tourist destination and the matchmaking tradition grew. With the harvest safely in and September being the peak holiday month, many bachelor farmers began to flock to Lisdoonvarna for a spa town vacation – and in search of a wife."

Intriguing, indeed. The festival kicks off on August 31 with events taking place over a six week period. The full schedule can be found here. Sure you'd have better luck than on Tinder anyway, wha?