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The organizers of Indy Irish Fest announced Saturday that a funding shortfall had forced them to cancel September’s edition of the festival and discontinue the event for the foreseeable future.
A post on the Indy Irish Fest’s Facebook page implied that demise of the annual festival, first held in 1995, had roots in the COVID pandemic.
“As a not-for-profit organization, we rely on profits from the year’s previous festival, sponsorships, and donations to put on the Indy Irish Fest. Unfortunately, we do not have the funding to continue into the future,” the post read. “After a year off in 2020, we have not been able to recover financially. We have been unable to make up for the loss of funds and keep up with increased expenses.”
This year’s edition of Indy Irish Fest was scheduled for Sept. 22-23 at Garfield Park.
Asked to clarify whether the fest’s committee has ruled out any future events, media representative Meg McLane responded: “We are still determining next steps for our organization, and we do not have plans for future Fests at this time.”
According to its website, the mission of the festival has been to “to preserve, promote and nurture Irish culture, arts, music, and history.”
The not-for-profit has provided scholarships for the study of Celtic dance, music, art or history/language and supported more than 25 local organizations with more than $250,000 in funds or in-kind donations since its inception.
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