The City of Hoboken invites all residents and visitors to the raising of the Irish Flag at City Hall at 2pm and to the 2nd Annual Irish Cultural Festival on Wednesday, March 13th from 3pm to 10pm at Sinatra Park. The event is free and features Irish music, food, beer, vendors, dance, and other activities for all ages.
The festival will be headlined by The Prodigals, who have been called the “Best Irish Traditional-Rock Band” by the Village Voice. Additional musical performances include local favorites Gold n Brown, the Will O’Connor Band, Colin Nisbet, and the Jersey City Fire Fighters Pipe and Drum Band.
Anthony David's will offer fish n'chips, while a beer truck hosted by Bin 14 will serve Guinness, Harp, and more. Sodexo Food Service will sell corned beef and cabbage and shepherd's pie, and On The FlipSide burger shack will offer hamburgers and hotdogs. Baker's Bounty will be selling their famous gluten-free Irish soda bread and green shamrock cookies and Domenico Caruso will offer popcorn and green cotton candy. A portion of proceeds will benefit the Rebuild Hoboken Relief Fund and American Legion Post 107.
The festival will feature face painting, craft activities, the Hoboken Hurling Club, and dance performances by the Garden Street Irish Step Dancers, Emerald Fire Dance Ensemble and Peter Smith School of Irish Dancing. Emerald Fire Dance will not only be performing, but will also invite the audience to participate in an all-ages demonstration of Irish Step Dancing. Emerald Fire is a dance company that was originally based in Dublin, Ireland and put together to tour with symphony orchestras in Europe, in 2001.
Students from Hoboken Charter School and their high school student council will provide a booth with craft activities for children.
Schedule
2:00pm - Flag Raising at City Hall, Colin Nisbet playing bagpipes
4:00pm - Colin Nisbet
4:10pm - Jersey City Fire Fighters Pipe & Drum Band
4:30pm - Peter Miller Irish Dance
4:45pm - Colin Nisbet
5:00pm - Emerald Fire Irish Step Dancing & Garden Street School of Performing Arts Irish Step Dancers
5:30pm - Jersey City Fire Fighters Pipe & Drum
6:00pm - Will O'Connor
6:45pm - Colin Nisbet
6:50pm - Gold N Brown
7:40pm - Jersey City Fire Fighters Pipe & Drum
8:00pm - The Prodigals (until 9:30pm)
About the bands
The Prodigals are one of the most successful bands to emerge from the East-Coast Irish scene. The band members grew up largely in Ireland; their original songs blend a funky and anarchic energy that is pure New York with a passion for the traditional music of Ireland. The band has headlined major venues and festivals throughout the United States, Los Angeles and Las Vegas to Chicago, Boston and Maine, as well as abroad in Canada, Germany and Ireland.
Gold n Brown is a Hoboken-based Celtic - Jam band created by Lloyd Gold and Liam Brown, along with Dave Ribyat on accordion and Chuck Tumulty on percussions. This bar favorite band plays everything from their own originals such as The Gold N Brown Reel, to Traditional Irish Music, as well as their own Celtic take on classic rock songs, old Irish Standards.
Hailing from Hoboken and performing here weekly, The Will O'Connor Band is known for thoughtfully presenting a variety of great music from the '50s to the '90s, but also for their passion and love of Ireland and its musical heritage. The group could not be prouder to celebrate again both their love of Hoboken and Ireland as part of the Hoboken Irish Cultural Festival.
Colin Nisbet has been playing the bagpipes for almost 25 years. He helps run his family's business, The Piper's Cove in Kearny, NJ, where they sell bagpipes, kilts, and other Scottish and Irish gifts. Currently, he is the instructor for the Jersey City Firefighters Pipe Band.
