The Irish Festival Village is in full swing at St. Ann’s square, celebrating for ten days straight.
The annual pop up event is the ultimate gathering spot for the Irish community during the build up to Manchester’s St. Patrick’s Day parade on Sunday.
There’s live music, food, market stalls, charity initiatives and enough Guinness to quench the North West.
Event DJ Andy Murphy, 48, said: “I love the atmosphere, it brings different cultures and people together.”
In the five years since Covid struck, the festival has been smaller than it was previously.
But since taking over last year, organisers Matthew Kelly, 32, and Dominic Winters, 50, have have teamed up with Manchester City Council and the Irish Consulate to make this year’s ‘rebirth’ one to remember.
Winters said: “The first parade was in ’95. It hasn’t got anywhere near the city centre since the tram lines came in.
“This will be the first parade since Covid and it ends in Deansgate this year. We’re rebuilding a team. A real strong team. A new committee. New faces.
“We want our best foot forward for the Irish community.”
The duo are well embedded in Manchester’s Irish community. Winters is originally from County Tyrone and is the owner of O’shea’s Irish bar, while Kelly is a co-founder of Craic By The Creek festival and a St. Patrick’s Day Parade committee member.
Kelly said: “The festival expands over the ten days. Tomorrow there will be a Guinness trailer, and a row of markets on Exchange Street next Friday.”
Irish Community Care Manchester (ICCM) is the event’s charity partner. It serves as a support service, assisting the Irish community with homelessness, benefits, pensions, passports, dementia, funerals and other complex needs.
An ICCM charity worker said: “One in three of the Manchester population are either Irish or of Irish descent. The second and third generation still have support needs.
“We’re a big charity with a small team. We couldn’t do it without the support of Dominic, Matt and others.”
ICCM educates young Irish people about heritage with a book club, history club, allotment and young girls network.
The stall is filled with imported Irish produce and is sponsored by O’Caines and all the proceeds go to the charity.
Irish Mancunian can also be found at the festival village. This organisation spotlights Irish art, film and theatre.
Last year it exhibited 20 mosaics by artist Mark Kennedy in various city centre venues.
Kennedy has worked in Manchester for over 30 years and is known for his mosaics in Afflecks bar.
Company director Ray Boyle, 55, said: “Every month or so we put on events that have an Irish team. We’re doing an exhibition around the men who built Britain.”
Boyle has plans to take the exhibition to Dublin and New York.
Birchwood Pizza is also stationed in the village and has wood-fire pizzas which feature unique toppings such as black pudding, white pudding, rosemary potato and saurkraut.
Owners Teresa McDonagh, 48, and Yuri Iljan, 42, started the food trailer business in 2021 after Covid and the couple have served food at other cultural festivals.
McDonagh said: “We love food. Yuri makes the dough. We want to bring a bit of quality.”
Manchester’s St Patrick’s Day parade started 30 years ago and the festival was originally held near the Town Hall.
Winters said: “It’s usually three times the size at Albert Square.
“Last year we had a queue the whole way down [St. Ann’s] Square. We’re looking to get back to our natural home (Albert Square) for 2026.”
All images by Allie Ajani
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