The Texas Irish Festival is in its 28th year, and last year, it drew some 60,000 people to Fair Park. It’s the biggest celebration of Celtic culture in Texas. Marsha Singer of Forest Hills has been the festival director for the past 10 years.
How did the Texas Irish Festival start?
In 1983, a group of people got together at the Nick Farley Lounge that used to be on Oak Lawn (it’s a Pappadeaux’s now) and they played Celtic music and had a good time. It was billed as the first Texas Celtic festival. And it just kind of blossomed from there. In 1984, it moved to Fair Park, and we’ve been there ever since.
So it grew pretty quickly.
It’s grown dramatically. Texas doesn’t have this gigantic Irish population like Boston or Chicago. It was a best-kept secret, and people really didn’t know very much about Celtic culture. When I first started, they were averaging 10 or 12 thousand people each year. But we’ve tried to expand our media and marketing message in the past 10 years, and last year we had 60,000 people.
What can people expect from the festival?
We have handmade or Celtic-themed arts and crafts. There used to be four stages with live music and performances, and now there are nine. People can learn to play traditional Celtic instruments and learn Celtic dances.
What about kids?
For kids, we have our ‘Urchin Street’, which is not your typical bounce-house type of element. We have art activities that are educational to the Celtic heritage.
And you have animals?
We probably have more dogs at our festival than you’ve ever seen. The Irish love their dogs. We donate money to the SPCA, and this year, we have 18 rescue groups signed up so far, and we’ll probably cap it at 20. It started with Irish wolfhounds, but now we have rescue groups for rabbits, cats, guinea pigs (anything you can think of). One of our big things this year is horses. Horses are very important to the Celtic culture. We’ve got everything from the Dallas mounted police, a horse-riding team out of Florida, horse trainer Robert Liner, who is doing the ‘Spirit of the Celtic Horse’ exhibit. We’ve got a horse chiropractor (so horses are our new element). We try to put something different into the mix that makes people want to get out and see it.
What are people surprised to learn about Celtic culture?
They’re surprised by how many countries it encompasses (there are seven nations) and how many people have Celtic heritage in their genealogy, if you look far enough. And just the richness of the heritage (the dance and the song and the exuberance of the whole culture) I think people are surprised to find that. We have to call it the Irish festival in Texas, even though it’s really a Celtic festival, because not everyone knows what Celtic means.
What else will we see at the festival?
There’s a Scottish clans village, where they display their coats of arms, and a lot of kilts. A lot of kilts. It surprises people to find out how old the culture is and how well-documented it is. You can go find your coat of arms with these genealogy vendors. It’s a very colorful history. There are large Celtic and Irish populations in Africa and South America, and a lot of people are surprised to learn that.
What about the food?
Oh, you’ll find scotch eggs, Irish stew and a lot of the traditional foods. And then we have 20 or 25 other vendors selling stuff like kettle corn and hot dogs. There’s also Irish wine, mead, cider (there’s something for everyone). But this is a family event. It’s not St. Patty’s Day. It’s a Celtic festival, and it’s a family event.
The festival runs from March 6-8. Tickets are $15 for adults, and free for children under 12 and members of the military and police departments. Also, anyone who arrives between 6-7 p.m. on Friday, March 6 gets in free.
