Manchester will celebrate its fourteenth Irish festival with a two week extravaganza featuring two hundred events, staged at thirty two different venues throughout Greater Manchester.
Lawrence Hennigan the marketing executive of the Manchester Irish Festival website said “The festival will feature Art, Culture, Comedy, Community, Dance, Music, Sport and Theatre events, making it one of Europe's biggest Irish Festivals.
We have tried to include something for everyone to enjoy in the community and a warm Irish welcome awaits all our visitors.”
The official dates for this years celebration is Friday 6 March to Saturday 21 March, but there are also a number of pre and post festival events from February through to April.
Festival highlights include the award winning 'Young, Gifted & Green' show at the Gorton Monastery on Saturday 7 March, the annual St Patrick’s festival parade on Sunday 15 March in the city centre and a whole host of St Patrick’s day celebrations leading up to the feast day on the 17 March.
Some of the major Irish stars appearing at this years festival include Declan Nearney, Brendan Shine, Riverdance, Brendan O’Carroll, Ed Byrne, James Cannon (son of Dubliners Sean Cannon) and the Sinners, Shkayla and Toss the Feathers.
