LISDOONVARNA, Ireland — Years ago, while traveling with my family along Ireland's west coast, I spotted a curious billboard. It was blue and hot pink, and showed a man with shoulder-length hair and a gray beard smiling out from the roadside.

It was for a matchmaking festival — Europe's largest, our tour guide assured us. The man in the photo was Willie Daly, the town's resident matchmaker.

"Maybe any singles here can head to Lisdoonvarna next September to find your one true Irish love!" he declared as we drove past, earning the dull laugh for a line he had clearly delivered countless times before.

That was 15 years ago. Since then, dating has moved to apps and algorithms, to swipes and screens. But this September, I turned off the road and into the town itself to see what endures — and

See Full Page