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Volunteers work year-round to create a Cultural Area that showcases both Irish heritage and current cultural developments and provides interesting ways for you to learn a little more about all things Irish.
Throughout the festival grounds, workshops and seminars abound! Check the schedules in the Eoin McKiernan Seminar Tent, the Sean T. Kelly Lore 'n' More Tent and the IMDA Music Workshop Tent for opportunities to learn more about musical instruments, history, legends, movies, literature and more.
Inside the Harriet Island pavilion, you'll find crafters, the Irish Fair Photo Contest entries, presented by Ireland in Black and White, a replica poitín still and Tussie’s Tea & Sweets tea room. Outside the pavilion, more than a dozen community organizations gather. You can trace your genealogy, enter the Baking Contest, learn a word or two in Irish or get information on many of the active Irish nonprofits in Minnesota.
Sports
The Irish love their Gaelic games. At the Irish Fair you have the opportunity to watch and participate in several festival competitions. Hurling, the Irish variation of field hockey, and Gaelic football, a rugby style game played with a ball similar to a soccer ball, will be demonstrated throughout the festival. After the games, you can give the football a kick or knock the sloither (the ball used in hurling) with the hurley (the field hockey-like stick) during our clinics for kids and adults.
Although we don’t replicate the famous holes at Lahinch, you or children can have a crack at our hand-built mini-golf course.
Dance
Performance Dance
Since the introduction of Riverdance about a decade ago, interest in Irish dance has exploded. At least 10 Irish dance schools now teach nearly 1000 kids and adults jigs, reels, hornpipes and much more. At least five adults groups are regularly performing throughout the state.
At the Irish Fair, we like to showcase all these schools, groups and dancers. From wee ones learning their first steps to accomplished dancers who compete internationally to intricate set dances, you can see performances throughout the festival on the Dance stage. Kick up your own heels a little later in the evening when, reminiscent of Irish crossroad dances, a ceili or set dance begins.
Irish Social Dancing – Dances that YOU do!
The Crossroads Tent will once again be the hopping and swinging hot spot for Irish social dancing at the Irish Fair. All weekend long we'll be hosting céili and set dancing, with lessons in the basic steps and movements of each dance. We'll run two hour sessions, alternating between set and céili (kay-lee) dancing all three days. We'll hold big dances at the end of each day accompanied by the Twin Cities' finest traditional Irish muscians.
These dances are based on the old traditional folk dances of Ireland. Take a glance at this video collage and then come by and give it a try!.
Check out the social dance schedule in the Crossroads Tent, or just drop by and see what is on tap on the dance floor. And speaking of "on tap", the Crossroads Tent has its very own beverage service so you can slake your thirst right near the dance floor. We'll have a special Wee Ones dance floor for the littlest spinners and hoppers to enjoy the fabulous music, and we will have information available (courtesy of Lómá mór Irish Dance Club) on where all the dancing goes on year round.
Dance like nobody's watching. Nobody will, we promise, except for the people sitting around who'll be wishing they were doing it too!
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