Despite rumours that the Lough Gara Trout Anglers' Association was organising a carnival as early as 1951, the actual event
would not take place until October, 1953. The first carnival would be called the Monasteraden Carnival but took place on the
grounds of the Lough Gara Hotel. By the following year (1956), the carnival was called the "Lough Gara Hotel Carnival"
which took place in Monasteraden. It would appear that 1959 was the last time it was run, but in 1974, the Lough Gara Carnival
ran "on a new site in Cloonloo" however, it seems this only ran once in  1974 and did not repeat in 1975 or since then.