Women came from around west Donegal and farther, said Máire Nic Fhearraigh of Derryconor, who organised the event with Bronagh McEvoy and Lucy Duffy.

The day began at noon with a "women's-only" pub at the Shamrock Lodge on Falcarragh's main rood, serving tea, coffee and sandwiches.The Yard Community Centre in Falcarragh also hosted information booths from agencies in the county that work with women, as well as film screenings and public lectures, and book and craft stalls.

Finola Brennan of the Donegal Women's Network brought a stall with information from offices the network works with and participated in the panel discussion, "Active women in the community and our society" with Goretti Horgan, research fellow in the School of Policy Studies at Magee College in Derry; and Amanda Slevin, activist with such groups as Maor and the Donegal Community Workers Co-Operative

"It was great to see the local community coming together," Finola said. She said an event like the féis also captured "the diversity of women we have in Donegal."

The hall in The Yard was decorated with fanciful ball gowns and garland made from bras. One man who came with his wife and daughters in the mid-afternoon commented that he was one of only a couple of men there at the time.

In the same way, Rosemary Grain, administrator at the Cloughaneely community group Pobail le Chéile, which operates out of The Yard, said earlier in the day that she had never seen so many women in a room together, without any men. "It took me a while to adjust,” she said.

She adjusted. "It was brilliant," Rosemary said.