Milwaukee Irish Fest (locally known as Irish Fest) is a yearly Irish-American festival held at the

Henry Maier Festival Park Henry Maier Festival Park is a 75-acre festival park located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on the shore Lake Michigan and is the site of the annual Summerfest musical festival and the home of the American Family Insurance Amphitheater. History Be ...

, on

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...

, United States, every third weekend in August. Over 130,000 people attend the Fest each year to take in nearly 250 acts on 17 stages. The four-day festival in downtown Milwaukee started in 1981, founded by Edward J. Ward. Irish Fest is the largest of the ethnic festivals held at the

Summerfest Summerfest is an annual music festival held in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. First held in 1968, Summerfest is located at Henry Maier Festival Park, adjacent to Lake Michigan and Milwaukee's central business district. Summerfest attracts app ...

grounds which report attendance, and holds claim to the largest celebration of Irish Culture in the world. Festival highlights include: * Performances from local Milwaukee Irish Dance troupes * Music from nearly 250 artists from around the world, sung in both English and

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

* Stages for Céilí dancing * An area to learn Céilí dance * Celebrations of Irish sport:Gaelic Football,

Hurling Hurling ( ga, iománaíocht, ') is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic Irish origin, played by men. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, the number of p ...

, and

Currach A currach ( ) is a type of Irish boat with a wooden frame, over which animal skins or hides were once stretched, though now canvas is more usual. It is sometimes anglicised as "curragh". The construction and design of the currach are unique ...

racing * Authentic

Irish Cuisine Irish cuisine encompasses the cooking styles, traditions and recipes associated with the island of Ireland. It has evolved from centuries of social and political change and the mixing of different cultures, predominantly with those from nearby ...

* A 5k Run/Walk to the festival * Poetry and photography contests * Liturgy for Peace and Justice held in the

Marcus Amphitheater The American Family Insurance Amphitheater (formerly known as the Marcus Amphitheater) is an amphitheater on the south end of the Henry Maier Festival Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The amphitheater serves as the venue for headlining acts perform ...

on Sunday morning The annual closing event is the Scattering, a gathering of many of the festival's musicians playing together in one combined session, with fifty or more musicians on the stage at one time not uncommon. Irish people the world over come to see the festival from as far off as England, Scotland, Egypt, Pakistan and Ireland itself. Many of Ireland's news stations will send reporters over to cover the festival. Irish Fest celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2005, which saw the opening of the new Celtic Roots stage.

President of Ireland The president of Ireland ( ga, Uachtarán na hÉireann) is the head of state of Republic of Ireland, Ireland and the supreme commander of the Defence Forces (Ireland), Irish Defence Forces. The president holds office for seven years, and can ...

Mary McAleese Mary Patricia McAleese ( ; ga, Máire Pádraigín Mhic Ghiolla Íosa; ; born 27 June 1951) is an Irish activist lawyer and former politician who served as the eighth president of Ireland from November 1997 to November 2011. She is an academic ...

also attended that year's fest. There was no Irish Fest in 2020 as officials cited the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

as grounds for scrapping most events & moving others online. Each year, a particular Irish family name (clan) is honoured at the festival. Some of the Irish clan names that have been honoured: *1987: Mangin *1995: Conarchy/Conachy *1999: Cummings/Cummins *2000: Delaney/Delany *2001: McAteer *2004: Murphy *2005: All festival Volunteers (in honor of 25th anniversary of Irish Fest) *2006: Toomey/Twomey (O'Tuama) *2007: Gogin/Goggins *2008: Carroll *2009: O'Donoghue *2011: Fitzgerald *2012: Higgins *2013: Gallagher *2014: O'Loughlin

References

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External links

Official Milwaukee Irish Fest websiteOfficial Milwaukee Irish Fest Mobile website
European-American culture in Milwaukee Irish-American culture in Wisconsin Festivals in Milwaukee Henry Maier Festival Park