Irish festival returns to Danbury area this weekend
NEW MILFORD — After a two-year hiatus, area residents will celebrate Irish culture as the Greater Danbury Irish Festival arrives on the Town Green this weekend. Festival hours are Saturday from noon to 10 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m.
The festival will feature live music by Ringrose & Freeman, Mighty Ploughboys, Tipperary Knights, Celtic Cross Pipes & Drums and Madz Music.
The festival on the New Milford Town Green will include Irish history lessons given by Phil Gallagher and performances by Gartland School of Irish Dance, Doherty-Petri School of Irish Dance, Thorne Academy of Irish Dance and Ashurst Academy of Irish Dance.
Under the festival’s cultural tent, patrons will find displays on Celtic art, Irish crochet, Irish language and classes, Irish family histories, Irish traditional music
history and more.
Vendors will be selling jewelry, art, authentic Irish food, musical instruments and other cultural goods at the festival’s Irish Village.
The Candlewood Cornhole Tournament is set for Saturday and will award prizes.
Food and beverages include corned beef from The Abbey, beer from Housatonic Brewing and Irish coffee and hospitalities from the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians.
The Greater Danbury Irish Cultural Foundation started the festival in 1995 and has been promoting Irish culture and arts in the local area with its featured festivities, performers, vendors
and hospitalities. COVID-19 closed the event for the past two years.
As a nonprofit organization, Wendy Mitchell, the foundation’s publicity officer, said it relies on the funds it raises at the festival and the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Danbury.
Mitchell said the return of the Irish Festival will “also be a great way to bring our members together once again to collaborate and work on a big event like this.”
She added, “It’s a morale booster after a rough couple of years.
Based at 6 Lake Ave. in Danbury, the Greater Danbury Irish Cultural Foundation has around 350 members.
The foundation encompasses the Greater Danbury Irish Cultural Center, the Danbury Ancient Order of Hibernians and the Ladies AOH.
Mitchell said the biggest changes in the festival from prior years are the location and free admission.
In the past, the Irish Festival has been held at Rogers Park, the Ives Center, the Lake Avenue Irish Cultural Center and the Portuguese Cultural Center — all of which are in Danbury.
For this year’s festival, Festival Committee Chair Steve O’Tree partnered with the town of New Milford and New Milford Parks & Recreation to hold the festival on the New Milford Town
Green.
“The town of New Milford has been wonderful about partnering with us and offering assistance with law enforcement, marketing and a location,” Mitchell said. “The Town Green will be our new home… We just want people to come out and have fun and find out what we’re all about.”
The festival is presented by Greater Danbury Irish Cultural Foundation, the town of New Milford and the Department of Foreign Affairs of Ireland, the 2022 Greater Irish Danbury Irish Festival.
For information, email danburyirish@gmail.com, call 203-470-2362 or visit danburyirishfestival.org/.