Tuesday, February 18, 2025
The 21st Annual Irish Experience Festival gave guests of all ages and backgrounds an immersive cultural experience at Hofstra University.
The coordinator of the event, Jessie Garcia, described it as “an authentic experience” and said the group of people that made it happen love to “put an entertainment, but an educational value to it and a cultural value. We want people to come out and feel nostalgic about their country, get reminiscent, and enjoy the music.”
The Irish festival took place on March 10th, right before St. Patrick’s Day, in order to give people a chance to buy their green clothing on time.
It’s all held at Hofstra’s Mack Physical Education center. The festival allowed for a space of cultural exchange through authentic Irish food, gift sale, and musical performances.
Alexis Garrett and Meagan Gombos, two Hofstra students, practiced their dance piece for two years before performing outside of the classroom. “This is part two, it’s called Hardshoe,” Meagan explained. “The whole dance is four minutes and the first part is soft shoe, but we only did one today. It was another experience and a chance to perform. We also met a lot of people backstage, but I would say the experience out of everything is what we really got out of it.”
“It’s nice to have an outlet to do this style of dance,” Alexis said, “we don’t get to do Irish dance that much.”
With more than 1,000 people in attendance, the festival gave a warm, safe place for the community to celebrate Irish culture away from the rain.
Many people traveled from different states too, including Philip Bfaffman, a vendor from Pennsylvania. “Events like this show the community the Irish spirit,” he said.
The vendors sold anything from shirts to Girl Scout cookies. Emilia Sheeler, a Girl Scout representative from Deer Park, helped her troop sell cookies. Through community events like these, the Girl Scout troops and other vendors are able to get their merchandise out to customers. The experience opened doors for vendors, dancers, and anyone who wants to celebrate Irish culture in a fun way.
