Fleadh Cheoil An Domhain: Many thousands of people streamed into Letterkenny at the weekend for Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann, described as the world's biggest festival of traditional music.
There were music sessions in every nook and cranny of the town's long Main Street, while more than 4,000 musicians and singers took part in 131 competitions, the official business of the fleadh.
Daily crowds during the weekend were estimated at between 40,000 and 60,000.
Town mayor Damien Blake, who spent most of the week helping out in the fleadh office, said he'd been told what to expect but was still stunned at the turnout on Saturday night.
Garda spokesman Paul Wallace reported a good-humoured event with fewer arrests than the average weekend - seven on Friday night and 10 on Saturday night.
The Fleadh Cheoil is the highlight of the calendar for Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, which has more than 40,000 members in 15 countries on four continents.
Comhaltas branches from throughout Ireland, Britain and the US were well represented in the competitions.
Good weather on Saturday attracted crowds for an eclectic on-street carnival of entertainment - from fully-fledged sessions to ensembles of guitars and bodhráns, tiny buskers on piano accordions and mechanised musicians. . .
Familiar faces were in evidence, including the renowned accordionist Joe Burke from Loughrea, celebrating the 50th anniversary of his first fleadh; Antrim fiddler Jim McKillop; and Dr Charlie Lennon, Kiltyclogher and Spiddal, who was honoured as Ard Ollamh (chief bard) of the fleadh.
Comhaltas president Jim Teevan, a Cavan man living in Luton, said he was thrilled that an Ulster venue had made such a success of the fleadh.
"It's been a marvellous chance to expose people to the rich diversity of our culture in Ulster," he said. "In concerts during the past week we've seen the Lambeg drum, the fife and the warpipes, the Derry and Antrim fiddlers."