This Weekend’s Irish Festival Moves To New Venue; Old Dog Tavern

The 16th annual Kalamazoo Irish Fest is moving to a new location. Old Dog Tavern will host the event this Friday and Saturday.

The festival will kick off at 4 p.m. Friday, June 17, and will continue Saturday
from 11 a.m. until 2 a.m. Entertainment on the outdoor stage runs from 5 p.m. until
midnight Friday, followed by an informal jam session on the indoor stage from
midnight until closing time. On Saturday, entertainment will run concurrently on the
outdoor and indoor stages, beginning at noon.

A complete list of entertainment is here.

The entertainment will include a variety of Celtic bands and performers in
addition to Irish Step dancers, a kilt contest, the greenest eyes, reddest hair,
and most freckles contests, and much more. Liam the Extra Large Leprechaun will be
back to emcee the event.

New this year is the Klassic Kilt contest, in collaboration with the Kalamazoo Klassic, which runs the morning of Saturday, June 18. Anyone who runs the 5K in a kilt have achance to win awards for fastest and for best style, in both male and female divisions.All Kalamazoo Klassic participants will receive a $2 discount off their admission Saturday before 3 p.m. if they show their race bib at the door.

Admission is $10 at the door. Kids younger than 14 are free if accompanied by an
adult.