Irish Festival Scheduled for Saturday in Sea Girt

Over 10,000 people are expected to be in attendance at the 2011 Irish Festival at the Jersey Shore this Sunday in Sea Girt. From start to end, there will be an array of activities for all ages including cultural events, music, food, history and more.

Held at Sea Girt National Guard Armory, chairman and one of the organizers of the event Jack Sullivan, said his organization that hosts the event— the Ancient Order of Hibernians (Middletown Chapter) transforms the Armory into “a beautiful Irish village.”

“We have three stages of music going on all day long and have Irish Step Dancing, Ceili Dancing, a Civil War Reenactment in the morning, mass with a Catholic priest,” Sullivan said. “We have an Irish language class— all the kids come and get their name tags with their names written in Irish, not English.”

Kids will also enjoy activities such as sand art, gold fish fishing where they can win a gold fish, inflatable rides (giant slides and a moon bounce) along with others. Two of the many musical acts performing will be bands Derek Warfield & The Young Wolfe Tones and Round the House. To eat, there will be corned beef sandwiches, hamburgers, pizza, funnel cakes and more.

“We have 11 venues of music,” Sullivan said.

The event will begin at 10 a.m. and close at 6 p.m. At the gate, tickets can be purchased for $10. Children 12 and under will be free. This festival has been going on for several years and this year TLC will be filming a TV show on Irish foods and culture at it, according to Sullivan.

Additionally, Vendors will have Irish gifts and crafts on sales including: jewelry, clothing and other gift items. And, Irish authors will be in attendance talking about the history of the Irish.

Need not be Irish to attend. Rain or shine, the festival will go on.

For more information, visit www.njshoreirishfestival.com.