Links below will open new windows.
Seattle Irish Week continues with the Festál celebration March 15 and 16
SEATTLE – Experience a vibrant celebration of Irish culture, heritage, and community at Irish Festival Seattle, part of the Seattle Center Festál series and presented by the Irish Heritage Club (IHC). This family-friendly, free festival takes place on St. Patrick’s Day weekend, Saturday, March 15 from 12 p.m.– 6 p.m. and Sunday, March 16 from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. at the Seattle Center Armory Food & Event Hall. Attendees can enjoy live Irish music, step dancing, cultural exhibits, genealogy workshops, engaging activities for all ages, and authentic Irish and Celtic food and craft goods.
“Nearly 10% of the Greater Seattle area’s population—an estimated 400,000 people—proudly claim Irish heritage,” said Mark Kohler, IHC Executive Director. “Irish Festival Seattle is the highlight of Irish Week, bringing together this vibrant community and anyone with a passion for Irish culture in the Pacific Northwest. The festival is a celebration of Ireland and its renowned global diaspora, showcasing the very best of its traditions, music, and spirit.”
This year’s festival celebrates Ireland’s impact on global technology and innovation, honoring its rich history and ongoing contributions to groundbreaking advancements. The festival will feature a digital arts display upstairs in Armory Loft 2, showcasing four contemporary Irish artists: Bassam Al-Sabah, Katie Nolan, Elinor O’Donovan, and Daniel Murray.
Complementing the exhibit are two talks and lectures by Professor Micheál O’Connell of Sussex University: “To Hell with Trad! Irish Digital and Tech Art Now” in Armory Loft 2, and “Artificial Stupidity and the Overlooked History of Ireland’s ‘Tech Bros,’ Sisters, and Disruptors” in Armory Loft 3. Documentaries will also be shown in the Armory Loft 4 Film Room, highlighting Ireland’s historical tech achievements and its evolution into a global digital leader.
It wouldn’t be Irish Festival Seattle without the many live performances. On the Armory Stage Saturday from 12:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.:
• 12:00p.m. – Carrigaline Celtic Bane
• 1:30 p.m. – Cladach Dance
• 2:00 p.m. – Haley Prendergast School of Irish Dance
• 2:30 p.m. – Parade Closing Ceremony
• 2:45 p.m. – Carroll-Henderson School of Irish Dance
• 3:30 p.m. – Grafton Street Academy
• 4:00 p.m. – Comerford Irish Dance
• 4:30 p.m. – West Seattle Irish Dance
• 5:00 p.m. – Irish Twist (musical performance)
Sunday performances and activities on the Armory Stage between 10:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.:
• 10:00 a.m. – Festival opens
• 10:30 a.m. – CAVORT Celtic Music
• 12:30 p.m. – Rowan Fae Irish Dance Company
• 1:00p.m. – Fire & Ice Irish Dance Company
• 2:00 p.m. – Tara Academy of Irish Dance
• 3:00 p.m. – Hanz Araki Band
• 3:15 p.m. – Irish Music
• 4:15 p.m. – Echo Lake Ceili Band
• 4:30 p.m. – Set Dancing
• 5:30 p.m. – Aer Lingus Raffle Draw
There will be plenty of traditional Irish foods for attendees to taste including from Shawn O’Donnell’s Irish Pub, as well as the festival’s new Irish Bar in the Armory Loft Lobby. Booth and vendors include Apple Cox Design, Beannaigh Traditional Handknitting, Candy Cotton Characters, Carbony Celtic Winds, Celtic Crossroads PT, Knotty Paw, Lá Liath Bakery, Over the Line Art Seattle, Dwiggins Illuminations, Dot Candles, History Of Names, IHC Information, India Imports, Irish Heritage Club Book Sales, Seattle Gaels/Tacoma Rangers, Seattle Genealogical Society, Scian Hayes/The Irish Weaver, The Celtic Jewelry Studio, and The Fancy Accent Tea Company.
“Irish Festival is a lively Festál weekend that invites us all to join the close-knit Irish community to celebrate and elevate all things Irish,” said Heidi Jackson, Seattle Center Managing Artistic Director of Cultural Programs. “There will be plenty of memorable fun… and learning!”
About Irish Festival History
St. Patrick’s Day has been celebrated annually in Seattle since the latter half of the 1800s, always involving parties and dances, and often involving impromptu, but unofficial parades. The first official St. Patrick’s Day Parade was held in Seattle in 1972, and a parade has been held every year since then in Seattle to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.
Starting in the late 1970s, cultural events were organized in connection with the parade and were held in various locations until the first Irish Festival Seattle was held at Seattle Center in 1982. This festival helps to fulfill IHC’s mission to promote Irish cultural activities in Western Washington, such as performances of Irish music and dancing, access to Irish language, history, Gaelic games, and cultural exchanges with Seattle’s sister City of Galway, Ireland. Irish Festival Seattle attracts thousands of attendees to the Seattle Center Armory each year and offers an annual feast of free Irish entertainment.
About the Irish Heritage Club
In the 1980s, Seattle was home to three Irish community organizations: the Irish American Club, the Irish Festivities, and the Seattle Gaels. Although each had their own focus, club leaders realized how much overlap there was in membership and joined forces to form the Irish Heritage Club. The Irish Heritage Club, founded in 1982, is a non-profit, non-political, non-religious organization that organizes and promotes activities of an Irish cultural nature in the Greater Seattle area. Information on the Irish Heritage Club is available at www.irishclub.org and www.seattlecenter.com, as well as on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
About Seattle Center Festál
Seattle Center Festál is where the world gathers to celebrate the people, the places, the stories, and the traditions of diverse ethnic and cultural communities throughout the Pacific Northwest. This unique public program series links together 25 free festivals, each offering its own focus, identity, and range of engaging activities to cultivate a deeper understanding of the diversity of our region. Seattle Center Festál is produced in partnership with community groups, presented on weekends from January to November, and supported by City of Seattle, Seattle Center Foundation, and 4Culture.
About Seattle Center
Connect to the extraordinary at Seattle Center, an active civic, arts, and family gathering place in the core of our city and region. Seattle Center’s 74-acre campus, centered around the International Fountain, is part of the Uptown Arts & Cultural District and home to Climate Pledge Arena; more than 30 cultural, educational, sports, and entertainment organizations; and a broad range of public and community programs. In everything it does, Seattle Center’s mission is to create exceptional events, experiences, and environments which delight and inspire the human spirit to build stronger communities.
Seattle Center has expanded its role to provide maintenance and public safety services for Seattle’s new Waterfront Park, a series of new public spaces on Seattle’s downtown waterfront between Pioneer Square and the Seattle Aquarium. Seattle Center supports managing these new waterfront public spaces in partnership with the non-profit Friends of Waterfront Seattle, which offers the community a range of recreational and cultural programming.
Thanks to the support of Official Seattle Center Partners – Alaska Airlines, The Climate Pledge, Coors Light, Pepsi, Premera Blue Cross, Symetra, T-Mobile, and WaFd Bank – Seattle Center is the #1 arts and entertainment destination in the Pacific Northwest with 12 million annual visitors, generating $1.864 billion in business activity and more than $631 million in labor income annually. www.seattlecenter.com
