The 2020 installment of Milwaukee Irish Fest—originally set for August 13-16 at Henry Maier Festival Park—has been canceled. Sigh.
Irish Fest joins fellow Henry Maier Park festivals PrideFest, German Fest, Polish Fest, and Festa Italiana in canceling or postponing their 2020 events due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. Only Mexican Fiesta and Fromm Petfest typically follow Irish Fest on the Summerfest grounds. (As of March 23, Mexican Fiesta was still going ahead with its annual festival.) Summerfest itself has been moved to September.
Here’s a press release:
After much discussion, monitoring and studying the ever-evolving COVID-19 situation, we have made the difficult decision to cancel this year’s Milwaukee Irish Fest. The decision was made now to help mitigate the growing challenges of the significant planning and upfront logistics required to successfully execute the festival. Milwaukee Irish Fest, which is the world’s largest Irish music festival, was scheduled for August 13-16 at the Henry Maier Festival Park on Milwaukee’s lakefront.
Based on the information we have been able to gleam up until this point, we feel it will be concerning for large group gatherings, such as our 100,000 plus attendees, to be able to come together safely in August. Your health and welfare are our number one priority, and we want to play our part in keeping everyone safe.
If you purchased a ticket in advance of the festival, you will receive an email in the next few days, which will outline in more detail the options that will be available to you. You can either transfer your tickets to the 2021 festival, donate your ticket money back to Milwaukee Irish Fest to support us as a nonprofit, or receive a refund for your tickets. Refunds will automatically be issued to anyone who purchased the Failte Club VIP Experience.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out. You can contact us at: [email protected].
We will miss seeing you all celebrate Irish culture with us, but look forward to returning to the lakefront at the Henry Maier Festival Park the third weekend in August (19-22), 2021.