Festival brings 'touch of the Irish' to Cape Coral

Cape Coral gave a whole new meaning to the phrase “go green” this weekend as the annual Irish Festival came to town.

Over two days, this past weekend, the German American Club filled with a sea of green from those getting an early start on the St. Patrick’s holiday.

Hosted by the Cape Coral Irish American Club, the festival provides residents from all over the area to enjoy and learn more about Irish culture.

As always, this year’s festival was full of Irish food, drink and entertainment. This year’s live music ranged from traditional Celtic music, Broadway style performances, to Celtic music with a rock n’ roll twist. There were also performances by local dance troupes performing traditional Irish dances throughout the two day festival.

This was the ninth year the Irish American Club has hosted the festival. Every year the festival seems to grow bigger and better than the last. Despite the colder weather, by Saturday afternoon the festival was packed with people enjoying a taste and sound of the Irish. On Sunday, the clouds parted and the sky was blue, bringing more people out to enjoy the last day of the event, “Unfortunately, we do not have control over the weather,” said the Irish American Club’s Anne Carney. “However, It seems people just wanted to come out and enjoy their Irish roots, because the crowds this weekend was much bigger than we thought they would be. It was a wonderful crowd who had a great time.”

The festival serves as the club’s principal fundraiser each year and allows the organization to contribute to such non-profit causes as; Organ Transplant Recipients of Southwest Florida, Inc., The Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks of the USA Fund for US Soldiers Overseas, Hope Hospice, the Knights of Columbus Councils at St. Andrew and St. Katharine Drexel Churches. The club also donates a number of scholarships to students who perform in the Irish arts.

While the gates had not even fully closed on this year’s festival, organizers, lifted by this year’s turnout Carney says the club is already looking forward to the 2014 Cape Coral Irish Festival, “Next year is our tenth anniversary. We will have something special planned to mark the occasion. It will be the biggest and best Irish Festival yet.”