An Irish legacy: Festival gives back to local community
The Greater Richmond Pipes and Drums perform at the annual Church Hill Irish Festival in traditional kilts on Saturday, March 16. Photo by Anthony Duong.
Lelia Contee, Contributing Writer
The Irish Festival returned for another year on the weekend of St. Patrick’s Day on Saturday, March 16 and Sunday, March 17 in historic Church Hill. This family-friendly event featured children’s games, face painting and Irish-themed crafts, according to the event’s page.
Food and refreshments were available and attendees could purchase the “Irish Surprise,” an Irish meal consisting of corned beef, cabbage and mashed potatoes prepared by the Ladies of St. Patrick’s, the St. Patrick’s Grill and more, according to the event’s page. There was also a Guinness beer tasting hosted by Guinness Brewery Ambassador Michael Reardon.
Each day had a different line-up of events. Saturday kicked off with the Hill Topper 5k, with over 250 runners, and Sunday started off with the “World’s Shortest Parade,” according to Stokes McCune, the festival’s organizer for 20 years.
Over 40 bands performed across the two stages throughout the festival and harp performances occurred in St. Patrick’s Church, according to the festival’s Instagram. There was also a full stage of Irish and Scottish dancers performing, McCune said.
“Really great volunteers, church members, neighbors, ‘Churchillians,’ those kinds of folks; everybody kind of comes together and makes it all happen,” McCune said.
McCune recognizes the importance of community, especially with Church Hill’s Irish history of community building and giving back, he said.
The festival has been around since 1985 and it all started with Irish immigrants who built the St. Patrick’s Church in 1859, McCune said. Since then, the Irish have contributed to the Church Hill community, whether it be meal programs, delivering food to people in need or having a place to come and worship.
“People that you see, if they’re working, are either parishioners, or friends and family and neighbors from Church Hill,” McCune said. “It’s a great chance to catch up with your buddies and people just really seem to enjoy it. We really don’t have any complaints.”
The event encouraged $5 donations so that they can continue to help over 20 Catholic and neighborhood organizations, McCune said.
“It’s a fun way to participate in the neighborhood,” said Vernon Plack, the president of the Church Hill Association, one of the organizations the festival supports.
The Church Hill Association is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization made up of volunteers who serve for the betterment of the Church Hill community by working to preserve the history of the neighborhood and create the community’s future, Plack said.
The Irish Festival helps the association achieve its goals with its many volunteers, according to Plack.
“It really is a community event from that perspective,” Plack said.
The money raised from the festival goes back into the community and many different types of organizations, he said.
Many bands and musicians want to play at the event, according to Bart Chucker, the lead singer of the Bart Chucker Band.
It’s fun to play and gives him exposure and opportunities to be seen, which often leads to more opportunities to play, Chucker said.
“We’ve been fortunate — we’ve been offered some really great gigs over the past few years,” Chucker said.
The Bart Chucker Band is a local country-based and fiddle-driven band known for their original music and covers of Americana classics like the Grateful Dead to Prince’s “Purple Rain,” according to Chucker.
This year, they performed their newly released original songs, “Drinking A Beer” and “Feel Like,” that hit the stage on the first day of the festival.
“The experience has been great,” Chucker said. “It’s always been a fun crowd to play for — you’re playing for thousands of people, which is always exciting.”
The event welcomed Richard McKann, a popular radio show host best known for “The Home Improvement Show” on 1140 WRVA, as its featured MC.
“It started out as a simple Irish Festival and now it impacts over five different, independent charities,” McKann said. “It’s feeding people, it’s housing people.”
McKann went to the very first Irish Festival and has since been going for over 30 years. In the last three years, he felt that he wanted to be more involved and create a story for the audience, thus becoming the event’s MC, according to McKann.
“It’s not just an event where people are listening to music and getting drunk, there’s things for people to do and to find their heritage,” McKann said. “They get together as people. It doesn’t matter what color, race, creed, it doesn’t matter. They’re all there having a great time.”
