September 20–26, 2019 Brooklyn Paper • www.BrooklynPaper.com • (718) 260-2500 AWP 9
Green
day!
Great Irish
Fair returns to
Coney Island
By Kevin Duggan
Brooklyn Paper
They’re turning Coney Island into
the Emerald Isle!
With roughly half a year to
go before St. Patrick’s Day, an Irishthemed
fest will celebrate the Emerald
Isle’s culture, food, and music in
Coney Island. The 38th annual Great
Irish Fair returns to the Ford Amphitheater
on Sept. 21 for a day of live
music, dancing, food, and drink, designed
to reconnect Kings County to
its Irish roots, according to the head
of the Irish American business boosting
group behind the event.
“New York was the gateway for the
Irish and now we’re all over the country,”
said Martin Cottingham, president
of the Irish American Building
Society. “It’s important to keep it going
because, let’s face it, our community
has gotten smaller and moved to
the suburbs.”
The stage at the fair will feature
a lineup of shamrockin’ local bands,
including Shillelagh Law, the Canny
Brothers Band, McLean Avenue Band,
Jameson’s Revenge, and the U2 cover
band Unforgettable Fire. Fans of oldschool
Celtic tunes can also visit a traditional
music tent, according to Cottingham,
a Windsor Terrace native with
roots in counties Galway and Mayo.
The top o’ the morning on the day
of the festival will include a Catholic
Mass, followed by a ceremony to honor
Irish and Irish Americans of note, including
several first responders who
served during the September 11 attacks,
according to Cottingham.
One honoree is former Queens Congressman
and Irish American Joe Crowley
— ousted during the last election
by progressive upstart Alexandria Ocasio
Cortez — who, later in the day,
will whip out his guitar to take the
stage with the McLean Avenue Band,
Cottingham said.
Dancers from the O’Malley Irish
Dance Academy in Marine Park and
Windsor Terrace’s Buckley School of
Irish Dance will grace the stage with
swinging step dancing performances
and elaborate traditional outfits. The
day will also have plenty of merchants
Them too: (Above) The U2 tribute
band Unforgettable Fire will
play at the Great Irish Fair, returning
to Coney Island on Sept. 21.
(Left) There will be plenty of Irishthemed
merch and green-clad
fairgoers at the event.
selling Irish food, drink, and crafts,
including Celtic crosses and sweaters,
all of which will help transport visitors
to the Old Country, according to
Cottingham.
The event’s proceeds will go to the
Futures in Education scholarship program,
which offers tuition assistance to
students registered at Catholic elementary
schools in Brooklyn and the northern
hinterlands of Queens, he said.
The celebration of Erin’s Isle was
launched in 1983 by the Brooklyn chapter
of the Ancient Order of Hibernians,
and took place beneath the Brooklyn
Bridge. The event moved to the People’s
Playground when Cottingham’s firm
started organizing it in 2007, because
of the beach community’s great atmosphere,
said the group’s president.
“It’s a great time to be in Coney Island,”
said Cottingham.
Great Irish Fair at the Ford Amphitheater
3052 W. 21st St. at the
Riegelmann Boardwalk in Coney Island,
(718) 954–9933, www.fordamphitheaterconeyisland.
com. Sept. 21, 9:30
a.m.–9 p.m. $20.
OPEN SATURDAY AND SUNDAY 11AM-6PM SEPTEMBER 21 & 22
CHECK LICFLEA.COM FOR ALL FUTURE DATES
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5-25 46TH AVE, LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS
Photos by Mike Beitchman
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