North Wildwood Irish Festival September 23 to 26, 2004
Wildwood, NJ - One of the biggest Irish festivals in the country will be held Sept. 23 to 26, 2004 in North Wildwood as the Cape May County Ancient Order of Hibernians presents its 13th annual Irish Fall Festival. The yearly celebration of Irish heritage is expected to draw as many as a quarter of a million people to the resort of the Wildwoods for the festival.
See more photos from the 2004 Irish Festival!!
The weekend will begin with a golf tournament at Avalon Golf Club on Thursday Set. 23.
On Friday, Sept. 24, the party begins as vendors offering a variety of Irish wares, food and other items set up along Olde New Jersey Avenue in North Wildwood’s entertainment district in the city’s Anglesea section. Free live entertainment will be available from noon to 10:30 p.m. and all of the area’s pubs and taverns will be open and offering their own entertainment.
Noel Henry’s Irish Showband will perform in concert beginning at 8 p.m. Friday, accompanied by the Gibson School of Irish Dance. The concert and show will be held at Wildwood Catholic High School, 15th and Central avenues, North Wildwood. Tickets are $20 and available at the door or at The Irish Corner, 209 Olde New Jersey Ave., in the heart of the festival area.
The festival’s third day will begin with a 5K run at 8 a.m., with registration at the Anglesea Pub, First and New Jersey avenues.
An exhibition by Irish pipe bands will be performed beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 25, at the field at Eighth and Central avenues.
Vendors will be on hand in the main festival area from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and live free entertainment will be performed along Olde New Jersey Avenue from noon to 10:30 p.m.
Authentic Irish Ceili dancing will be performed in the North Wildwood Recreation Center, Ninth and Central avenues, from 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday. Music will be provided by the South Jersey Ceili Band. Tickets to the Ceili are $12 per person and may be purchased at the door.
The final day of the Irish Fall Festival, Sunday, Sept. 26, will feature vendors from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the main festival area; a traditional Mass at St. Ann Church, Glenwood and Atlantic avenues, Wildwood, at 11 a.m.; and an Irish parade beginning at 1 p.m. The parade will begin at 24th and Surf avenues and proceed north to Spruce and Olde New Jersey avenues. Grand marshal of this year’s parade will be North Wildwood Chief of Police Jake Stevenson.
Throughout the Irish weekend, bus service will be available to festivalgoers. Buses will pick up passengers at the Anglesea Fire Hall at Second and New Jersey avenues and make stops at various points along Surf Avenue south to 26th avenue.
The Irish Fall Festival has become one of the premier events in the events calendar for the Wildwoods. Proceeds from this event benefit many local AOH charities.
For more information on the Irish Fall Festival call 1-800-IRISH-91.
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