Pittsburgh Irish Festival
Each year I look forward to the September weekend of the Pittsburgh Irish Festival. Started in 1991, Pittsburgh has been holding this three day event for people all over the area to attend. This is one way I feel I can celebrate my family heritage in an exciting way! I wanted to share with you all that is at the festival and my favorite highlights!
This year everything was held the 6th-8th in Sandcastle’s parking lots, which was an expansive area. They have it all separated into different areas to make it easy to navigate on the map given to you. One location was filled with different family activities such as mini golf, coloring stations and Nessie, the bounce house. You can even try your hand at axe throwing! A merchant tent is filled to the brim with anything and everything Irish. I always enjoy seeing the pieces hand made by the vendor. An older gentleman had hand carved walking sticks with animal head adorning the tops. Each stick was a work of art.
The genealogy tent is the place to stop by to learn about Irish heritage. You can look up family surnames and with help of volunteers can spot the areas your ancestors lived on the map. I always find something new about a certain family branch. I learned that it can be hard to locate family when spelling of surnames have changed depending on time of a recording census and possibly immigration had wrote them down differently in previous centuries. Outside of the tent, they have local Celtic dogs sitting with their owners. Over the past few years of attending I have fallen in love with the Irish Wolfhound. That is my dream dog at this point!
Yet the part of the festival I love the most is the food, drink, and entertainment area. You can try local breweries as well as the typical Harp and Guinness of course. I can never pass up the whisky tent and have to make sure to grab a shot of Laphroaig. In my opinion, that is one of the best whiskies I have ever had. Mainly because of the smoky flavor which I love. As for food, tents are lined up with so many options. Each serving all kinds of meats, fish, potatoes in dishes you find in Ireland. My favorite item to get is the mac and cheese Irish Egg Rolls from Craig’s Fine Irish Food tent. The egg rolls are simply to die for. You can eat at the vast amount of picnic benches or hop into the live performance tents to sit. Each year there is a plethora of performing groups local to the area as well as from the Celtic Isles and Europe. There are bands, Irish dance groups and storytellers who perform all day long. I had to make sure to see Screaming Orphans, Doolin’ and The Wild Geese who are all very talented performers.
Over all the atmosphere is lively, energetic and always safe. When attending, there is so much to see and do. Everyone you see there is happy to partake in being Irish or calling themselves Irish for the day. To me that is what makes the festival great and why people come back each year like I do. I cannot wait for the next festival in 2020. If you are in the Pittsburgh area or traveling near the area in early September, you should check this one out!