August 1, 2025
What a memorable and action-packed weekend, June 5-8! In our 17th year of hosting the Minnesota Irish Music Weekend, we brought eight visiting artists to Minnesota from all over Ireland including Galway (Mick Conneely), Clare (Mary MacNamara, Sorcha Costello), Kerry (Danny O’Mahony), Cork (Conal Ó Gráda), Derry (Brian Mullen), and Chicago (Pauline Conneely) and West St. Paul (Dáithí Sproule) – the most visitors from Ireland we have hosted yet! We were also honored to have the expertise of regional artists teaching workshops and leading youth programming: Danny Diamond, Hannah Flowers, Cory Froehlich, Brian Miller, and Mary Vanorny.
Over the course of the MIM weekend, we presented four events including the Kick-Off Celebration, Great Session Experience, Master Artist Concert, and Sorcha Costello & Mary MacNamara’s Sunday evening concert. In addition, we offered four educational programs – 47 adult workshops, interviews and lectures, the advanced teen program, and 2 sections of the Trad Immersion Camp for kids between the ages of 8-13.
- A record-breaking 27 children enrolled in the trad immersion camps
- 85 adults and youth participated in workshops, lectures and interviews
- 24 youth under 18 participated in the advanced teen program
Altogether, there were nearly 600 enrollments and event tickets sold!

CIM students, alumni, and friends gather with the Master Artists for a session at the Thursday night Kickoff Event at the Urban Growler Brewing Company (Tim Van Cleave)
This year, in addition to renting space from the Celtic Junction Arts Center for the weekend, we rented space from the Interact Center for the Visual and Performing Arts on Minnehaha Ave, which made it possible for us to include more participants in our Trad Immersion Camps! We greatly enjoyed working with the Interact Center, and were grateful to have extra room to spread out.



Trad Immersion campers present their Sunday performance at Interact Center for the Visual and Performing Arts (Aja McCullough)
A Huge Shout-out to our 55 volunteers, who together donated more than 376 hours of their time to make the weekend’s activities possible. A very special thank you to Jo Ann Vano (event chair), Greg Padden and Jeff Larsen (facilities), Cara Weggler Menge and Dave McKenna (hospitality & catering), Adrienne O’Shea (artist transportation coordinator), Christine and Greg Anderson (concessions & bar), and Cormac O’Sé and Kristo Sween (sound technician & tech equipment).



We had lovely weather for Friday's Great Session Experience! (Mattie Snyder and Pete McCauley)

People enjoying a fiddle workshop with Sorcha Costello, one of 47 adult workshops that took place during Minnesota Irish Music Weekend. (Aja McCullough)


Teen Program musicians perform at Saturday's Teen Trad Showcase in the Scanlan Music Hall. (Aja McCullough)

The grand finale of the Master Artists Concert, featuring all of our visiting master artists and Teen Program musicians (Tim Van Cleave)
We’d like to acknowledge our funders, the Government of Ireland Emigrant Support Program, Culture Ireland, the Minnesota State Arts Board, and Larkin Hoffman. We couldn’t present such a successful event without this support!
Thanks to in-kind sponsors the Holiday Inn, Downtown St. Paul, and The Celtic Junction Arts Center! We are deeply thankful for our relationship with the Celtic Junction and the continued support they offer for the Minnesota Irish Music Weekend.
And most importantly, thank you, our community, for being there, and taking part in the 17th Minnesota Irish Music Weekend.
Save the date for June 11-14, 2026!