The festival at Muskegon’s Heritage Landing celebrates its 25th anniversary starting Thursday with a host of international stars and regional favorites. The preview, schedule ad playlist at Local Spins.
Celtic Celebration: The Michigan Irish Music Festivals marks its 25th anniversary this coming weekend. (Photo/Tim Reilly)
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Veteran musicians such as fiddler Diana Ladio have long sung the praises of the esteemed Michigan Irish Music Festival, which returns to Muskegon’s Heritage Landing this weekend.
“They place such importance on stellar musicianship and diversity of acts. We have discovered some of our favorite bands from all over the world at this festival,” she said of the four-day event held amid the “beautiful setting” along the Lake Michigan shoreline.
Thousands of Celtic music devotees will cheer many of those “favorite bands from all over the world” starting Thursday, when the festival hosts its “Pub Preview Party” featuring On the Lash, Aoife Scott, Dave Curley & Colin Farrell and Seamus Kennedy on the Pub Stage. (Get $10 tickets for that opening party here.)
Gaelic Storm (Photo/Derek Ketchum)
Commemorating its 25th anniversary this year, other international stars include Dublin’s award-winning Kila, Scottish folk band Talisk, Belfast guitarist-singer Ian Gould and Irish folk/jazz/neo-soul artist Siomha, as well as ever-popular American bands such as Gaelic Storm and local favorites Conklin Ceili Band and Ironwood.
Organized by more than 1,000 volunteers, the festival over the years also has donated about $400,000 — and 20,000 pounds of non-perishable food items — to local organizations battling hunger in the community.
Mick Lane, frontman for West Michigan’s Conklin Ceili Band, credited those volunteers for assembling “one of the finest Irish music festivals in the country” thanks to “their attention to detail, innovative staging and recruiting of the finest musicians in our our genre from around the world.”
“I have been part of conversations with Irish music superstars who openly admit that this is their favorite festival to play,” he insisted.
Conklin Ceili Band (Photo/Local Spins)
MICHIGAN IRISH MUSIC FESTIVAL: THE ESSENTIALS
WHEN: Thursday-Sunday (Sept. 12-15)
WHERE: Heritage Landing, Muskegon
WEBSITE: https://michiganirish.org/
THE LINEUP: Kila, Gaelic Storm, Talisk, On the Lash, Shane Hennesy, Ally the Piper, JigJam, Ian Gould, Aoife Scott, Kennedy’s Kitchen, Blackthorn, Ironwood, Seamus Kennedy, Conklin Ceili Band, Siomha and many more. Full lineup online here.
QUOTE: “I have compared the setting up of the grounds, turning it into a village full of Irish heritage, goods, music, dance and food, and then having it disappear in the following week only to reappear the following year as our own Michigan Irish version of the ‘Brigadoon’ tale.” – Mick Lane, Conklin Ceili Band
TICKETS: Four-day pass, $65; children 12 and younger, free; Thursday pub preview pass, $10; Friday pass, $20; Saturday pass, $35; Sunday pass, $15. Get tickets online here.
WEATHER FORECAST (as of Sept. 11):
Thursday – High of 87 degrees, warm and sunny
Friday – High of 85 degrees, partly sunny
Saturday – High of 83 degrees, partly sunny
Sunday – High of 83 degrees, mostly cloudy
MICHIGAN IRISH MUSIC FESTIVAL 2024: THE SCHEDULE
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