It's been many years since I've come down for Irish Fest and happy to see it didn't change too much. I was a bit surprised to see how much tickets have gone up to but they offered free admission on Sunday if you donate non-perishable foods to Hunger Task Force. Loved everything about helping their cause so it was a no-brainer. They have a lot of different food vendors and have similar beer/drink offerings at most of the stands. I really liked the Scotch ale from Water Street Brewery but would've liked an Irish beer at this festival. You've got to shop around for some things - the sheperds pie varied at many places (as did hand pies/pasties) and you could end up paying more for less than what you're seeing around you. Still, it was all delicious and we had a great time with the live music and dancing. read more

See all

The Irish fest was everything and more than we expected! It felt good to be around my Irish folk. Wonderful musical acts like Conor mallon and the final act was superb. The sky rail was so fun! The food was a bit overpriced but I am only upset that water bottles were five bucks. That's dumb. Make sure the Irish are hydrated and not just with whiskey! read more

Love Irish fest. Incredible musicians, WoW! Great music and vibes. Only 4 stars because you can not get any Irish beer there. No, really, no Irish beer at Irish Fest. No Harp. Guinness? No. Smithwick's, Kilkenny (love Kilkenny), Murphy's, no sightings. Hey Irish Fest, how about some Irish beer at Irish Fest?! read more

2023 was my first time ever at this Fest, and it was good! Could tell it was gonna be crowded on Saturday, as street parking in the area rivaled Summerfest Saturdays. Admission was $25, and there was way more to see and do than I had time. Got some non-Irish food, a Lakefront beer to go with it and sat down to some great bands from Scotland, Ireland and later Milwaukee. The Byrne brothers may have been my favorite and Scythian from D.C. was fun but all over the map. The craftsmen and vendors are great here! And I wish I had time to see the Storytellers and all the literary offerings, but I just didn't get here early enough. Won't be my last Irish Fest! read more

See all

Finished! after 25 years. Security/Prices add up to a health hazard. First my 20oz. water bottle was "confiscated" to get past the gate. Then all venders sell medium water bottles for $5.00 a piece! Why is the price the same for all venders? Who decides that? At most airports, water fill ups are free, once a traveler gets past security! Parking at the closest lot is so expensive, the lot was almost empty. The music acts this year, were the most disappointing in my memory. To bad. Irish Fest used to be wonderful. We're done. read more

The music and dancing are quite good. Rated so low as they have gone almost completely cashless and if you don't want to use your card or bring one you have to get one of theirs which is usuriously expensive. $2.50 each time you use it. so say you want a $5 piece of dessert (one of theirs less costly things here)- you have to get a $15 minimum card and they will take $2.50 for the dessert. so then you want maybe a beer- nope. Because that's $9 plus the $2.50. I'd never suggest using a debit card at something like this and some people just don't like using credit cards for every little thing. read more

We haven't been for several years because of Covid. Admission was $17. My oldest is now 23 and able to share a pint with her Mom! We stopped first thing and got a beer at Water Street Brewery. Gingerz was pretty close to the gate. I got the beef stew baked potato and my daughter got the Reuben potato. The potatoes were huge but also not cooked all the way through. My stew potato needed more salt while the Reuben one was delicious. They were about $15 each. I also opted for this Irish Cream, Jameson's, and root beer float at $14. We stopped several times for Irish Cream samples. Our last bites were the beef Wellington and spinach puff. The spinach being the better of the two. The market place was bustling and we found this cute cat purse. My daughter wanted something else from the same vendor she just spent $35 at and the vendor refused saying the minimum credit purchase is 15! I guess don't accept credit cards then? Other than that experience you good for the dancers, music, and food. It brings back memories of when my mom in law was alive. Now we're making new memories. read more

See all

One of my favorite festivals. Kind folks - good music - good selection of food - lots of things to see. The weather can make or break this event but it's a great tradition to add to your list! read more

Overall I've never had an issue with Irish Fest until year and they just dropped the ball on the " free shuttle " from the park and ride / hotel. Granted it does cost some serious money to run such a service for festival goers after a long absence because of Covid 19. But how can a service totally miss a pickup at a stated time and then "couldn't find" the park and ride. After several phone calls from different people to Irish Fest a bus did finally show after 45-60 minutes but had to proceed back to the hotel because that's what the driver was told to do for some reason. Hopefully Irish Fest will re-evaluate this situation for next year or try to work a deal out with the Milwaukee County Transit System instead of hiring a yellow school bus company read more

See all

Great music food was a avg. The crowd will be less relatively compared to Summerfest attendance. Celtic rock band Whiskey of the damned put in a great show. http://www.last.fm/music/Whiskey+of+the+Damned Food specifically on Saturday night was a miss and a hit. The famous? McBobs ran out of thousand island dressing and was not flat grilling the bread? So what you end up is a cornbeef sandwich? For $9.00. NO. Another food vendor had irish styled nachos that was a new twist. Made with bacon chips over freshly made natural potato chips, cheese, sour creme and onion toppings. Food 3 Pricey for what you get. Ambiance 4 music, crowds, restrooms. Service 3 Location 4 Value 3 lower the tickets by $2-3 more people would come. 85/2014 read more

See all

For one reason or another Irishfest was the lone major festival on this fairgrounds location that we hadn't been to yet. Until this year. Finally made our way over. Glad we did. There's a sound in the air here of countless musicians, all of which seemed to produce enjoyable music. As you walk through the songs change, as does the style of music, but it's all so much better than the other festivals we've attended here. We enjoyed all of Irishfest but one of the coolest features for me was the 'hurling' cage. Contrary to popular belief this isn't a spot where fest-goers go to puke. Hurling is an Irish sport similar to field hockey, only they use a fraternity style paddle to hit the ball instead of a webbed racket. Inside the cage you can try and hit the ball with the paddle. Sounds a lot easier than it is, because you have to toss the ball up to yourself, then hit it with your primary hand on the lower part of the paddle (opposite hand positioning to baseball). My son got to try and did pretty well with it. Jameson sets up shop here and offers it's proudest..what's not to like about that. And if you set foot in here you better damn well fancy a pint of Guiness. Cheers. read more

Irish Fest - Irish sport of hurling - Festivals Near Me - Milwaukee, Wisconsin

As much as I love learning about other cultures and experiencing them, I don't make it to all of the ethnic fests at the Summerfest Grounds. I did make it to Irish Fest this year, and I was able to accomplish most of my goals. The lines were too long at the popular corned beef places, but I was able to enjoy some Guiness Beef Stew, which was delicious. I was also able to enjoy some bag pipe and drum music, which might be my favorite thing to do at Irish Fest! Other than that, I enjoyed spending time with friends, enjoying an Irish beverage or two, and capping off the night with a few songs fropm Gaelic Storm. Overall, a successful visit. read more

In my opinion this is one of the best "Fests" in Milwaukee! (Germanfest is fun too) i may be a bit bias because I am Irish but I had a great time today (Saturday). Good crowd and great weather. I loved the Jamison Whiskey stands mainly because I love whiskey and really don't enjoy beer (yes I am the one Irishmen and Wisconsinite that doesn't drink beer)!!! The prices for the drinks were a bit high (10$). But the pours were extremely generous! Thank god I wasn't driving home tonight! One of the food stands, i think it was called Bob's ( next to Maders) had a boiled plate that was excellent. The corned beef was perfect and tasted great. Loved the parade with all the bagpipes. Only drawbacks were the $17 to get in and the fact that they didn't sell any Irish beers (I'm sure Miller/Coors put an end to that) As a said above, I don't drink too much beer, but I found it odd that you couldn't get a Guinness at the Worlds Largest Irishfest! I sure am glad that Miller/Coors don't make whiskey! read more

Irish Fest - Festivals Near Me - Milwaukee, Wisconsin

See all

Irish Fest was a new-to-me festival this summer and it will be a staple from here on out. The food was phenomenal -we tried the Reuben quesadilla, sausage roll, Sheppard pie fries, Reuben, Reuben egg rolls and a few IPA beers and finished it all with some ice cream from Cedar Crest ice cream. An easy favorite for all of us was the Reuben quesadilla. It was perfect we wouldn't change a thing. All of the food was phenomenal but that was a big front runner. We caught three different bands performing all the way from Ireland which all did amazing as well. There were Irish dancers found sporadically around the fest which was fun to watch! We thoroughly enjoyed everything at Irish Fest and can't wait to explore more next year when we have a bigger chunk of time especially! read more

See all

OH EM GEE, WHY HAVE I NOT BEEN HERE IN YEARS????????? You guys, I am a die-hard German Fest girl. I'm mostly German and only slightly Irish, and I married a half Irish man. What's our excuse for being away for so long? We have none, not a one. Our reason for attending this year was two-fold...one, we wanted to see the Red Hot Chili Pipers and Whiskey of the Damned. Two, we won free tickets from Yelp. Thanks, Yelp! My first impression was that it was waaaay bigger than I remembered it being. It seemed to take up every inch of the grounds. That is always a good sign, at least, to me! The food lines were crazy long, especially at McBob's, but the food we had was really good. We opted for a McBob's corned beef sandwich, a potato dish and 2 Scotch eggs, something I've been wanting to try, but never knew where I could get one. Of course, the sandwich and potatoes were awesome. The eggs? Well, they weren't amazing, but they weren't bad either. They were hard boiled (which I knew they would be) and then deep fried(?) in a sausage infused coating type of thing (which I wasn't expecting and kind of threw me). Maybe they are made differently depending on where you get them? I don't know, but I would try them again. Drinks were the usual, but I didn't notice if there were true Irish beers available or not. Getting to the fest later in the day, we missed a good portion of the cultural stuff, like the harpist and the language classes. Also, we missed the Irish Wolfhounds. I've never seen one in real life and I wanted to see how big they are compared to Great Danes. Oh, well, there's always next year! On to the shopping. WOW! I was blown away at the selection of stuff! Most of it was good quality stuff, too, not the junk that most festivals have. Leather purses, wool sweaters, traditional clothing, Celtic designed everything, from clothing to jewelry to dishes...you name it. Where WAS I disappointed? In the festival shirts! I really wanted an Irish Fest shirt, but they didn't even have one in the colors of the Irish Flag! When I found one that I was okay with, I saw the price and walked away. $20 for a shirt I'm not even that thrilled with? No. We usually sit long enough at one of the stages to watch the Irish dancers, but since we got to the fest around dinner time, I think all the kids were done for the day. Oh well, we've seen it before and we'll see it again... The music......If you have never seen or even just heard of the Red Hot Chili Pipers, get yourself acquainted, right quick! They play rock music and incorporate the bagpipes and fiddle into it.....even reworking the songs of other bands! How popular are they? Well, we were lucky to get seats. Behind a curtain. Where we couldn't see the band or the big screen they were projected on. In fact, it was standing room only with the crowd literally all the way back to the rocks bordering the lake. So, we listened to the band while we ate our sandwich, potatoes and eggs. It was still a good time! Later in the evening, we caught Whiskey of the Damned. I was expecting them to be fairly similar to the Chili Pipers, but to my surprise, they were more of a heavy metal band! They had a fiddle, but instead of bagpipes, there was an accordion. It was quite a small crowd attending that show and we could easily have gotten within feet of the stage. The show was great and they gained two new fans, if not more, that night. We bought a cd and a t-shirt and got the entire band to autograph both. Irish Fest has won me over. I now have TWO must-see festivals to get to every year. If it were a person, I'd give it it's very own Claddagh! 113/2015 read more

See all

There's something about an Irish Jig that makes me instantly happy. Irish Fest is my favorite cultural festival in Milwaukee. Sure I'm Irish, and I love all things IRL, but I can honestly say that what puts Irish fest at the top for me is the music! This is one place you'll see a stellar line up of Celtic music on numerous stages for 3 glorious days. Every year you get the popular return act Gaelic Storm - that draws a huge crowd - and puts on an energetic show! It's not to be missed! My most favorite part of the whole festival is the Scattering. At the end of the fest, everyone crowds around the one stage, and all the artists come together and put on show followed by fireworks. It's great to see all this amazing talent on one stage singing, dancing, and making music together! If you haven't been to Irish Fest - you have to make an effort. You don't need to be Irish to join in on the fun. Go Green! and be a part of the Irish Family! read more

Irish Fest - Festivals Near Me - Milwaukee, Wisconsin

See all

Good fun. Good food. Great music A bit pricey but what isn't nowadays. It is becoming more of a Pop festival than a traditional music festival. But it is what it is. read more

I hesitated to write a review about Irish Fest for a long time because I'm so loyal to it I know my review will be riddled with bias! And how to describe Irish heaven? I am at Irish Fest virtually all open hours each year. Irish Fest dishes up truly world class Irish musical groups each year. It also showcases Milwaukee's world class Irish dance schools and offers many, many fine food choices. The Cultural Village is amazing for those of us that want to delve more seriously into Irish and Celtic culture - Gaelic speaking areas, genealogy tent, film, live theater, and free Irish drum lessons. Besides these permanent offerings there are new and different exhibits each year, like Irish Coffee demonstrations, an exhibit on the Titanic, and this year an exhibit on Irish Sci-Fi and Fantasy writers. And the Hedge School provides fascinating lectures, demos and presentations from experts from both over the pond and local. Besides ample opportunities to soak up the culture, I believe the way that Irish Fest is run is very humane, caring, thoughtful and compassionate. There are ways to get in cheap or free each day except one. There are some very busy times when it can be difficult to find a seat, especially around the popular eateries at meal times. But the Fest utilizes the entire festival grounds and if you explore further you can find a breezy scenic place to picnic or to get away from the crowds for some quiet time along the long stretch of lakefront. There is a lot of shade and lots of picnic tables to be found. There are drinking fountains and a sprinkler area to cool down. Food and beverage can be found at a range of prices. There are many creative offerings of activities for families and children. Admission is free on Sunday with the donation of canned foods to be collected by the Hunger Task Force. Watching people stream in on Sunday morning dropping off their food is honestly one of my favorite moments of Irish Fest. So we Irish Fest fans have an opportunity to bless others less fortunate. The crowds can be annoying to maneuver around but I have found people to be kind and considerate when we bump up against each other in different ways. And especially this comes from the volunteers - from cheery greetings of the ticket takers to the beer servers. My cup was always filled to the brim! And I mean that literally and figuratively. But to truly suck the marrow out of Irish Fest I highly recommend volunteering. There are many groups that annually contribute to the Fest each year such as the Friends of St. Patrick (hosting visitors from Northern Ireland and fostering a connection with the St. Patrick Centre), the Shamrock Club, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the St. Andrew's Society and others. My involvement with the Friends of St. Patrick has given me a deeper level to enjoy the Fest as I've been able to meet and visit with many visiting VIPS from Northern Ireland and learned how Irish Fest and our efforts are contributing to the peace process. Irish Fest has its own cadre of 4,000 volunteers. Families and groups of friends have fun serving in areas of Irish Fest together each year. So there are plenty of ways to contribute to the Fest as well as enjoy it for yourself. I helped with tear down the Monday after one year and it was hard work but GREAT fun. I was very impressed with how organized the process was . Usually volunteers get free admissions for passes and parking arrangements - another way to make the Fest affordable. Irish Fest has become an important tradition for myself, my husband and our besties, and a wonderful place to reunite with friends we have traveled to Ireland and Northern Ireland with. The combination of fantastic music, dance, best friends, laughs, and maybe a bevvie or two is what I think of when I think of the Gaelic word "craic", and Irish Fest is my best source for it, this side of the pond. The best part of Irish Fest I think, is that this joyful experience is multiplied thousands of times, as many many families and groups also use it for such reunions. Irish Fest is a tradition that is being passed down from generation to generation. Its like a four day party with thousands of friends you just haven't met yet! read more

I first came here after learning about the history of the Irish immigrants to the area from John Gurda's "The Making of Milwaukee." The Irish are a few chapters and they made this the largest Irish festival in the WORLD. It's so worth a trip here from out of town, try and get a room at the County Clare Inn, but don't drive to the festival, it's an Irish Fest. Take a bus or shuttle. Speaking of which, the one disappointment is that you have to search a bit for the better beer and whisky and what's with that? You don't want to drink Miller Lite at Irish Fest! The music and dance is wonderful, it's amazing how many children are being raised with Irish and Irish-American traditions. By the way, the Reuben is NOT Irish, it was invented by a Jewish-American and even corned beef is an Irish-American tradition that became a thing in Ireland thanks to Irish-American tourism. After a lot of stomach ache I have yet to find a great Reuben here at Irish Fest, the eating isn't as good as Festa Italiana or Mexican Fiesta but oddly it's better than Pride Fest. The first municipal police in America were Irish. Police work was a low prestige, low pay, undesirable job and in a longstanding American tradition it therefore went to the most recent impoverished immigrants (Marilynn Johnson at Boston College wrote a couple very interesting books on this). In a very sad but classy move, this year the Fest had a memorial service honoring the 4 Milwaukee Police officers, 4 Chicago Police officers, one of the Illinois State troopers and the Fulton County Sheriff's deputy all felled in the line of duty this past year. read more

By far the best cultural festival in Milwaukee. I am not just saying that because I have been to Ireland twice and day dream on a regular basis about running away there and living a peaceful life among the sheep. Like the other Milwaukee cultural festivals you will find food, music, and shopping. This year my favorite band was scythian: http://www.scythianmusic.com. Check them out, they were crazy on stage. Crazy good, not crazy going to kill you in your sleep crazy. I also ate my share of Reuben rolls. My favorite Irish Fest food. I prefer the ones from McBob's because of the texture inside the roll, but others are partial to Maders as well. I prefer my Thousand Island inside my roll not outside in dip form. Check out the website for daily deals. Almost every day you can get in for a reduced price. Thursday is free with a donation of school supplies and Sunday before 11 am you can get in for free with a donation of canned goods. The festival is very family friendly, my daughter was there two out of the four days and didn't grow weary of the following activities: -pirate ship -craft area -playground -splashpad -junkfood -superhero bingo -passport treasure hunt Gaelic Storm is a must see if you haven't all ready. Second to the Reuben rolls are the Irish Nachos. Homemade potato chips, corned beef, nacho cheese, scallions, and thousand island dressing. Nom nom. Sunday offers a Catholic mass, the second largest in the world. Come early for a seat that allows you to hear. But, its not your hearing...some of the mass in is Gaelic. Sunday at 9 the festival ends with a "scattering" (a compilation of all the bands) and fireworks. read more

Had a great time at Irish Fest last night. Drank a lot of Riverwest Stein from Lake Front Brewery & enjoyed the Celtic Punk / Rock rhythms from Whiskey of The Damned. My new favorite local band! By far, the best band I saw at Irish Fest this year. Enjoyed them so much, I had to buy the album. Looking forward to their next show, they gained a loyal fan last night. read more

See all

Super fun! Weather was beautiful, food everywhere was awesome! I bought a kilt and socks from the nicest NY'er Irish man. :) The Jamison tent was great. I got a tip from one of the guys who was carding people to try the pancake shot! Delicious! My Giant and I were able to get some great gifts for our families. Entertainment was really special. Girls dancing and music everywhere. Great for all ages. read more

See all

I worked down at Summerfest/Milwaukee World Festival and out of all the ethnic festivals, I believe this is the most attended one. The performers vary from those girls dancing all quick with their feet to Gaelic Storm, which has been here the past few years and always draws a HUGE crowd. The food is delicious, priced as you would expect. The patrons are by far the best to deal with out of all the festivals. read more

The rating is for the Irish Fest only - not the food. While the entertainment and other events never disappoint at Irish Fest, we're still trying to find decent food. We've tried the Irish selections in the past but these seem to be hit or miss so we decided to stick with traditional 'fair' food. Low expectations but we're not looking for a gourmet meal from a window. I know that Wisconsinites don't 'go out' for brats but when I'm in Wisconsin I crave a good brat. So I tried Marinos and as soon as I saw the brat had, wait for it....yellow mustard on it, I knew I was in trouble. 'Nuff said. My gf did like the Polish sausage (beware - it's a foot long) and the fries were pretty good. The search continues. read more

I like Milwaukee Irish Fest a lot. This year was my 11th year in attendance, and at this point it is officially a family tradition for us to go each year. Every year we have a great time, though I do have to say that I feel like in the past couple of years the variety of the musicians has really tapered off. The most recent Fest seemed to have a LOT of Bluegrass musicians, and while I like Bluegrass music, that's not why I go to an Irish Fest. So, bring on the Irish Artists, guys!!! The shopping areas are hit or miss from year to year - sometimes I see a TON of stuff I want to buy, and other years, not so much. This year had some great artisans, and we ended up buying a beautiful piece of glasswork from an artist originally from Waterford. Amazing stuff. I like the Cultural Village and Gaeltacht areas a lot, and this year we attended two different talks on Irish culture and history at the "Hedge School" while we were there. The speakers were really interesting, and it was nice to take a break out of our busy Fest schedule to learn more about Ireland's history. My husband, as a Hurler himself, always enjoys checking out the hurling matches, and as dog lovers, the Celtic Canine area is always worth stopping by so that we can get our doggy fix. I'm not a beer drinker, so I like that there are other options (like my beloved Jameson) available for purchase. There are also plenty of food vendors - if you don't find something you like to eat here, I don't know where you will. All in all, I have to say that I am definitely a fan of Milwaukee Irish Fest, and will of course be back next year, carrying on our family tradition. It's definitely a great Fest to visit if you're anywhere near the area. read more

Rating for Fest NOT food. We have been to Irish Fest 6 times since we moved here 8 years ago. The fest is one of if not my favorite. The bands are great, the beer is great (if you buy Lakefront - north end of the park), the atmosphere is friendly and fun. The food is a different story. So far, the only food we've found that is decent is from Winston's at the Miller Lite Oasis. Food is 2-3 stars...on a good day. read more

Always fun! Perfect mix of people. Jameson flowing nicely. Usually end up having more fun here each year than at Summerfest. (And, I love Summerfest,) read more

The Irish never saved humanity, but they will tell you so, and most of what passes for Irish "culture" is influenced by outsiders (The Vatican, the British, the always losing Fighting Irish crap ball team, and Europe), but there are some things that make the Irish (my grandfather was Irish) worth celebrating: music and poetry and wacky sports. Music: Used to be great! I have been going here since my mom got back from Ireland and gave birth to me. I think Saint Patrick might be my pop! At any rate, after spending many Saturday nights in Dublin suburbs singing with the Dubliners and other folk acts of the 1960s, it was going to be an annual meet up for the family. I have stood in the rain swearing about "acts of God" while patient old nuns stood by and smiled at me and my buddies at Irish fest. I have seen most of the classic Irish bands here back in the day: The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem and that other guy who played with them too. The bands this year were: meh. Irish pop rock bands and whatnot, but nothing worth separating as "Irish." Poetry and storytelling: I did not come early enough for this stuff. I hope it was good. Sport: I was happy that the Hurling tent had great beer on tap and super fun people. Hurling is fun to watch and the players are crazy committed to the sport which is a cross between cricket, football, rugby, and soccer, but apparently predates these sports: some claim the sport is 3000 years old, and some fella on Wiki claims it is 9000 years old. Well, it is lively, and the Hurling folks are pretty cool. It is fun to watch too (Brown Deer Park). Irish fest, was A-OK. read more

It was a waste of time and money for us this year. $17 ticket price was too high. Ya, I know there are promos but we went last minute because most Fests are fun and worth it. This was the worst we've been too in a long time. Food was underwhelming (Reuben rolls under cooked, potato pancakes soggy) buying a beer with tickets is a pain and inconvenient. It seems the Scottish have taken over.... We didn't see any Irish bands on Friday night. Maybe poor timing, but we missed the Irish. Nothing against the Scottish and folks from Nova Scotia but we thought we were coming to Irish Fest. Good luck and I hope your experience is better. We wish we would've stayed home. read more

The "fun" at Milwaukee Irish Fest is being tainted by such high, outrageous prices charged that it is making it unaffordable for families. One would think they were at a Disney theme park with the high price charged for a bottle of water ($4)!! But Disney increased their water bottle charge last year from $3 to $3.50. What is with Irish Fest charging so much for pop & water??? And their Jameson drinks are also very high in price for the amount given. In addition, the food prices are terribly expensive too especially for the amount served. Every year we purchase 36-50 shamrock cookies from the Tea Room Bakery (last year a cookie was $1 and this year the price went up 100% - $2 for one cookie!!!) That is highway robbery & its the same size cookie! Irish Fest is seeming to gouge Festival attendants. We wanted to go back to the Fest on Sunday, but with all the high costs, we just couldn't justify it. And in past years we would always go for 3 days --definitely not anymore. How sad! Irish Fest is pricing people away! We met people back at our hotel (we are from IL) after Saturday night at the Fest that also said they usually go on Sunday, too, for the mass & stay the day til the scattering. They too expressed the same reasons why they would not be attending the next day. It was noticeable this year that Irish Fest was not as crowded as in years past. Hence, we don't even wonder why! In years past, one found it extremely difficult to get a seat for Gaelic Storm (especially on Sat. nite) & this year there were tons of open seating on the benches. Are all the music acts for all the stages really charging such high fees? Let's not lose sight of why Irish Fest was started in the first place. It has become seemingly harder to have a good time at Irish Fest when food & drink are so overcharged! read more

The ticket system for drinks is irritating and it's weird that some of the food places are decidedly not even close to Irish, but the genealogy and Scottish clan information is pretty awesome. I adore the Skyride. Great music, good entertainment. read more

A great annual event in MIlwaukee and shows our love for all things Irish. Buying tickets for beer and wine and not needing them for food or soda is a little odd, but it definitely controls the consumption of alcohol. Great local Irish restaurants get great exposure and other staple restaurants on the grounds make some Irish inspired meals special for this festival - for instance, Reuben pizza! Definitely something for everyone during the day, but I would think that come dusk, kids shouldn't be on the grounds anymore because that is when the real Irish Fest starts and it could become unsafe for children to be around. I definitely plan to attend again. read more

This is the largest Irish Festival in the entire world. Celtic Kilroy has been an attraction here for years and is the reason we all come to the Irish fest her Milwaukee every year. The kids know he'll be here and They always get us to visit him first. I love it when he takes pictures and gets the crowd to participate. I hope he continues to be part of this great festival read more

See all

We've been going to the Milwaukee Irish Fest for 10 years now and we've never had a bad time. The venue is perfect with permanent stages, bathrooms and food vendor buildings. Parking is easy and close. Since it's on Lake Michigan it's never hot and at nights gets a little cool. The music is always top notch. read more

I loved this fest. The problem is the lack of security. No bag checks. No gun detectors. Large buildings facing the fest. Did you learn nothing from Vegas? Hire some security. read more

A friend of mine described this event as his Christmas... I don't know that I would go that far, but it was certainly a good event. It was not by any means the trashy drunken idiot fest that I thought it would be... it was a more mature and fun-loving crowd. Yes, there were bizarre aspects of the event (some incredibly hammered people stumbling about (there are always a few), the most unsavory of Sconnie attire, over priced food, crazy crimped Irish dancer hair, and over priced food). But the summer fest grounds are great. Go, spend an evening... have your fill and drink your drinks... enjoy the sights and sounds. read more

Oh, Irishfest, the fest is overrated!. This is the first and probably ONLY time I will ever go here ever! First, the admission price is steep @ $20, the food is pricey, well the music, it's what I can expect never liked Irish music to being with, nor Irish culture, music that'll get stuck in my head for days, the only fest I'm glad I attended at Maier Festival Park is Piride Fest, I sill don't like people, maybe the highlight of the day was the statue man, it was dirty, as always, it seems, I will not miss much of the summer! read more

How was this my first time EVER to this great festival? This summer i went to Festa, German Fest and Polish Fest. This has, by far, the most comfortable feel of all the festivals. I'm sad i've gone this long without a visit to Irish Fest...can't wait for next year. read more

Wouldn't miss it. Incredible venue, lots of food options, and great performers. High kings, red hot chili pipers, and Seamus Kennedy are some of our favorites. Beer selection is sub par due to MillerCoors owning all selections. read more

Irish Fest clearly the most attended waterfront Milwaukee festival. Though the amount of vendors and cultural displays seems to have dropped off a bit, it still wins out over other ethnic fests. If you are looking to hear some Irish music, bagpipes, re-living old harp music it is fun to go and look. Authenticity-hmm probably not. Sprechers once again big sponsor. If you are looking for local Irish Beers-keep on looking. Not here. read more