Gilleoghan Irish Dance to Perform at Danbury Irish Festival

The Greater Danbury Irish Festival is back at the Ives Center and Bethel-based Gilleoghan Irish Dance School will entertain guests with reels, jigs and four-hands.

Don’t know what reels, jigs and four-hands are? Come to the Irish Festival and find out. Gilleoghan Irish Dance’s owners and teachers will be on hand to introduce dancers and explain what each dance is. The award-winning dance school offers a well-rounded program that includes Irish dance for children and adults.

Danbury’s Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) began the festival in 1995 as a way to raise funds to purchase a cultural center. In 1995 Jerry Curran came up with the idea for the festival, Sharon Higgins got the backing of the membership and Mayor Gene Eriquez offered a baseball field in Rogers Park to host the event.

The first year two years it rained and the field flooded. In 1999 the festival was moved to the the Ives Center at the west-side campus of Western Connecticut State University. Last year there was no Irish Festival and the year before that it was held at the Greater Danbury Irish Cultural Center, 6 Lake Ave.

The Hibernians said they are happy to have it back at the Ives Center for 2015 and have the following entertainment scheduled:

Friday, Sept. 18, 2015:

• Traveling Danburys – 6 – 7:45 p.m.
• Humble Hooligans – 8:15 – 10 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 19, 2015:

• Steve O’Tree and Friends 12 – 1 p.m.
• Iris Gray School of Dance – 1-1:45 p.m.
• Celtic Cross Pipe & Drums 1:45 – 2:30 p.m.
• Ale Hounds – 2:30 – 3:45 p.m.
• Iris Gray School of Dance – 4 – 5 p.m.
• Celtic Cross Pipe & Drums – 5:30 – 6:30 p.m.
• Jeff Conlon & Americelt – 6:30 – 8:15 p.m.
• Mighty Ploughboys – 8:30 – 10 p.m.

Sunday, Sept. 20, 2015:

• Poor Richard – 12 – 1:30 p.m
• Gilleoghan Irish Dance – 1:30 & 4 p.m.
• Fighting Jamesons – 2:30 – 4 p.m.
• Celtic Cross Pipe & Drums – 4 – 4:45 p.m.
• Cunningham Brothers – 4:45 – 6 p.m.

Below is the entertainment schedule for the Cultural Tent:

Friday

• 7-8 p.m. Gordon & Elizabeth – Ballads, Traditional music

Saturday

• 1-2 p.m. Uillean Piper – Matt Connolly
• 2-3 p.m. Harper –Regina DeLaney
• 3-4 p.m. Harp Workshop – So You Want to Play the Harp?
• 4-5:30 p.m. Ringrose and Freeman
• 6-7 p.m. Céilí Dance Workshop
• 7-10 p.m. Céilí – Green Gate Céilí Band

Sunday

• 1-2 p.m. Uilleann Piper- Jerry O’Sullivan
• 2- 3 p.m. Harper –Regina DeLaney and Friends
• 3 –3:30 p.m. Traditional Fiddle - Nora Hanley & the Two Lizs
• 3:30 –4 p.m. Storyteller (Adults) – Máire Hearty
• 4 - 5:30 p.m. Shamrogues – Traditional music

Displays on: Women of the Easter Rising, Book of Kells, Irish Crochet, Irish Language and Classes, Irish Family Histories, Danbury Dancers (céilí), Irish Blessings, Literary Displays; Potato Famine, Irish Traditional Music History and Classes, and many more.

Admission price is $12 per day and $25 for a weekend pass. Children 12 and under are free. Saturday Special – enter before 1 p.m. for half off admission.

Festival Hours:

• Friday – 5 – 10 p.m.
• Saturday – 11 a.m. – 10 p.m.
• Sunday – 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Ives Concert Park is located at 43 Lake Ave Ext, Danbury.

For more information, click here.

Photo: Gilleóghan Irish Dance