Irish Fest 2017

We attended Irish Fest on Friday night. The weather was warm, sunny and perfect for this amazing music festival.

Map of Ireland. Our mother's great grandparents were from County Limerick ( south west).

Milwaukee Irish Fest is a yearly ethnic festival held at the Henry Maier Festival Park, on Lake Michigan, United States, every third weekend in August. More than 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. Irish Fest is the largest of the ethnic festivals held at the Summerfest grounds which report attendance, and holds claim to the largest celebration of Irish Culture in the world.

Perfect escape from the crowd.

Lou on the rocks!

With 17 music stages, there was music and dancing everywhere. Sometimes, it was hard to keep track of the groups we saw, but the music was such a nice change from the blaring electrical sounds of all the county fairs we have visited this summer.

Kavan from Cavan

Every Irish instrument represented in this group

Edel and Kate

Flute and Fiddle

The Irish step dancing is always a pleasure to watch since little girls and boys are usually the dancers. The energy and enthusiasm displayed by these young people is something we really appreciate.

Cashel Dennehy School of Irish Dance

Parents and Kids dancing together

We saw many men in kilts and quite a few in the parade that marched throughout the festival grounds. Paddy McFest  joined them on the march.

Paddy McFest

Can you tell which is the woman?

Of course, I always snap a picture of the human statue. This year, I saw him play the flute and engage with the crowd for a few moments before turning into the statue again.

Human Statue

The genealogy tent offered festival goers help with locating their Irish roots. A poster of common names did not have our maternal grandma's name of Minihan, or great-grandmother's name of Shaughnessy, but it was exciting to look for them anyway.

Friday's highlight was the Celtic Canines. These playful Irish Setters thrive on constant human companionship, and it was fun to watch the interaction between the dogs and their owner.

Irish Setters

Irish Terriers

No Irish Fest would be complete with something relating to the Titanic. Our very own great, great  uncle, Dr. William Minihan, drowned on that fateful night in 1912.