The Buffalo Irish Festival will return to Buffalo River Fest Park (249 Ohio St.) on Saturday, August 1 and Sunday, August 2. The two-day celebration of Irish music, dance, sports and culture is sponsored this year by Sullivan’s Brewing Company and is produced by the Buffalo Irish Center.
Now in its decades-long run as a summer tradition for the region’s Irish-American community, the festival runs Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. and Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Admission is $10; children 16 and under are admitted free. Tickets are available at the Buffalo Irish Center (245 Abbott Road) and at the festival main gate.
This year’s musical lineup includes The Prodigals, Steel City Rovers, The Fenians, Kilrush, Crikwater, McCarthyizm, Almost Seamus and Yellow Jack. Irish dancing performances by Rince na Tiarna and Harris-Grieco schools will take place throughout the weekend. The Buffalo Fenians GAA will run an Irish sports camp for children ages 4–16 to introduce Gaelic football and hurling; the group’s website has additional information about those sports.
Festival festivities will officially begin Saturday with a Parade of County Flags at 11:05 a.m., led by the Erie County Sheriff’s Pipes & Drums procession around the River Fest Park grounds. On Sunday at 10:30 a.m., a memorial Mass will be held at the Irish Famine Monument on La Riviere Drive.
In addition to live music and dance, the festival will include vendors, food and drink, merchandise and representatives from nearly a dozen local Irish organizations and clubs.
Organizers describe the event as family-friendly and say the return to River Fest Park places the festival in the Old First Ward, an area tied to the history of early Irish immigration to Buffalo. More event information is posted by the organizers on the festival website.
Web: buffaloirishfestival.com
Irish sports info: buffalofenians.com
