Milwaukee Irish Fest (locally known as Irish Fest) is a yearly Irish-American 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. Festival highlights include: Performances from local Milwaukee Irish Dance troupes Music from nearly 250 artists from around the world, sung in both English and Irish Stages for Céilí dancing An area to learn Céilí dance Celebrations of Irish sport:Gaelic Football, Hurling, and Currach racing Authentic Irish Cuisine A 5k Run/Walk to the festival Poetry and photography contests Liturgy for Peace and Justice held in the Marcus Amphitheater on Sunday morning 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 was 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 (clan) is honoured at the festival. Some of the Irish clan names that have been honoured: 1987: Mangin 1995: Conarchy/Conachy 1999: Cummings/Cummins 2000: Delaney/Delany 2001: McAteer 2004: Murphy 2005: All festival Volunteers (in honor of 25th anniversary of Irish Fest) 2006: Toomey/Twomey (O'Tuama) 2007: Gogin/Goggins 2008: Carroll 2009: O'Donoghue 2011: Fitzgerald 2012: Higgins 2013: Gallagher 2014: O'Loughlin References External links Official Milwaukee Irish Fest website Official Milwaukee Irish Fest Mobile website European-American culture in Milwaukee Irish-American culture in Wisconsin Festivals in Milwaukee Henry Maier Festival Park