Milwaukee Irish Fest


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. 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 grounds which report attendance, and holds claim to the largest celebration of Irish Culture in the world.
The next festival will be held 19–22 August 2021.
Festival highlights include:
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, Mary McAleese also attended that year's fest.
There'll be no Irish Fest in 2020 as officials cited the COVID-19 pandemic as grounds for scrapping most events & moving others online.
Each year, a particular Irish family name is honoured at the festival.
Some of the Irish clan names that have been honoured: