Sounds from the Emerald Isle – including bagpipes, bodhrans, button boxes, fiddles and more — abound this summer, with a number of Irish music festivals taking place across the U.S. Here’s a glimpse at a few, with web links for more.
On the East Coast, two Irish festivals of note are slated for July 24-26: The Great American Irish Festival in Central New York and the Greater Hartford Irish Music Festival in Glastonbury, Connecticut.
The Great American Irish Festival takes place at the Herkimer County Fairgrounds in Frankfort, New York (just east of Utica). Artists scheduled to perform include Barleyjuice, Marc Bernier, The Blarney Rebel Band, Cassidy/McCale, Vince Colgan, Gerry Dixon, Dublin City Ramblers, The Elders, Enter the Haggis, The Fenians, Glengarry Bhoys, Hadrian’s Wall, Hair of the Dog, Inisheer, Pat Kane, Seamus Kennedy, Donal O’Shaughnessy, Pogey, Rathkeltair, Rattlin’ Bog, The Stoutmen, Syracuse Session, Tannahill Weavers, Traonach, Trinity, and Derek Warfield and the Young Wolfetones. Inflatables and games for children, as well as some family-oriented entertainment also is on tap. Advance tickets for the full weekend, which benefits the planned establishment of a Mohawk Valley Irish Cultural Center, are $20, while daily tickets will be available at the gate. For more information, visit www.gaif.us.
Enter the Haggis also is on the bill for the Greater Hartford Irish Music Festival, which also will feature performances by Celtic Cross, Flynn 529, Highland Rovers, Jameson’s Revenge, Colm O’Brien, The Rising, U2 tribute band 2U, and Celtic rockers Young Dubliners. Presented by the Irish American Home Society, the festival also boasts a cultural tent featuring displays and traditional music, song and dance (set, step and ceili), an expansive food tent, children’s area, carnival rides and games of chance. For more information, log-on to www.irishmusicfest.com.
The following weekend, July 31 – August 2, some 65 acts are expected to perform on seven stages during the Dublin Irish Festival at Coffman Park in Dublin, Ohio (just northwest of Columbus). The festival will be serving up what organizers refer to as Celtic music with a side of salsa and a French twist, plus traditional and rock music, and is expected to draw more than 100,000 people. Artists slated to perform include Brigid’s Cross, Bua, Cape May Ceili Band, Celtic Tenors, Clancy League (with Aiofe Clancy and Robbie O’Connell), Dervish, Gaelic Storm, La Bottine Souriante, Trey MacGillivray, Niamh Parsons and Graham Dunne, Pogey, The Prodigals, Salsa Celtica, Screaming Orphans, Scythian, Slide, St. Louis Irish Arts, Street Dogs and Young Dubliners. Also scheduled are a singer-songwriter circle, a number of local and regional artists, dance performances and instruction, nine pipe and drum bands, and a theatrical performance of Sister Bernie’s Bingo Bash. A weekend ticket is $23, while daily admission is $10. More information can be found online at www.dublinirishfestival.org.
Milwaukee Irish Fest, hailed as “the largest and best Irish cultural event in North America” by the Smithsonian Institution’s National Folklife Program, returns to Wisconsin’s most populous city’s Henry W. Maier Festival Park on Lake Michigan, August 13-16. Founded in 1980, the festival showcases more than 100 entertainment acts on 16 stages, with such musical artists as Brigid’s Cross, A Clancy Pipeline, Gaelic Storm, Colin Grant, Green Tea, Irish Descendants, Sean Keane, fiddler extraordinaire Natalie MacMaster and Donal Lunny, Colm O’Brien, Pogey, Carmel Quinn, Risin Stour, Salsa Celtica, Irish balladeer Tommy Sands, Screaming Orphans, Slide and, inexplicably, Red Hot Chili Peppers, among others. Also slated are dance, drama, a cultural village and marketplace, a children’s area, Jameson Irish whiskey tastings, Celtic games and sports. Visit www.irishfest.com/festival/ for more information.
Kansas City Irish Fest returns to Crown Center Square in Kansa City, Missouri, where there will be music on three stages from Friday night, September 4 through Sunday night, September 6. Among the artists scheduled to perform are The Elders, Ellis Island, Hothouse Flowers, The Kelihars, Makem & Spain Brothers, The McCabes, Jim Malcolm, David Munnelly Band, Robbie O’Connell, Pogey, Scythian, Slide and Vishten. Admission is $10; children under 12 will be admitted free. Festival goers are advised to bring lawn chairs and blankets. More information, including stage schedules, is posted at www.kcirishfest.com.
Other Irish festivals in coming weeks, listed alphabetically by state, include:
Alaska Irish Music Festival in Anchorage, August 1
Augusta Irish Festival in Augusta, Georgia, July 19-24
Iowa Irish Festival in Waterloo, July 31-August 1
Irish Music Festival of Western Massachusetts in Springfield, August 8
Great Lakes Irish Music Festival in Comstock Park, Michigan, August 22
Montana Irish Music Festival in Butte, August 7-9
Buffalo Irish Festival in Hamburg, New York, August 28-30
The Festival of Ireland in Lake Placid, New York, August 30-31
Charlotte Irish Summer Festival in Charlotte, North Carolina, August 14-15
Cleveland’s Irish Cultural Festival in Berea, Ohio, July 24-26
Adams County Irish Festival in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, July 18
Newport Waterfront Irish Festival in Newport, Rhode Island, September 5-7
The Irish Festival at Blackthorne Inn in Upperville, Virginia, September 5-6
Irish Fest – La Crosse in La Crosse, Wisconsin, August 7-9
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