Irish 2000 Festival

06/01/2020

Don't forget to tune in for Rick's Irish 2000 tribute this Saturday at 7. Check out this rare poster from our inaugural year at Heritage Park (now bulldozed and gone) Time really does fly. This Saturday will be a great opportunity for you to share your memories from Irish Fest, reminisce and listen to top quality irish tunes. Don't miss it !!!!!

https://www.facebook.com/rick.bedrosian

05/27/2020

Hi Everyone! Our good friend Rick Bedrosian from Hair of the Dog will be paying tribute to Irish 2000 during his upcoming Facebook performance next Saturday! Rick will play some of your I2k favorites and share a few great jokes along the way. Its been lonely for Irish Music fans throughout this pandemic, so grab a pint and check out this great concert!

12/31/2019

As we head into a new year the Board of Irish 2000 would like to share some sad news. 2019 which was the 23rd year of our event will also be its finale. As you may remember from our posts the last few years we solicited alot of feedback from our patrons and tried to implement as many as we could. The reason for us requesting all this input and considering all these changes was that business has not been good. Over the last 9 years we have seen decreased alcohol sales, decreased attendance overall and decrease interest from craft vendors. Competition has vastly increased for special events and a lack of major corporate sponsors and a desire to keep prices affordable has made it hard for us to stay financially stable. Last year we tried to bring back Friday night, spent more than we have in a decade on bands and increased our marketing budget. Sadly it didnt work out. Friday saw small attendance and Saturday wasn't what we needed it to be financially. As a result we don't have enough reserves to run our event in 2020. So our board has made the difficult decision to not move forward with our event. It's a sad day for us as we have put our heart and soul into this event. Some of us have been working on it since year one and its difficult to imagine what September will be like without it. We do want to address the decision by the Utica Festival to move to our weekend. While disappointing and surprising to us it had zero bearing on our decision which was made for business reasons well before that announcement was made. We are proud of the 23 years of Irish 2000 and of our efforts to support and promote Irish music and culture. We are so grateful to all of you- our patrons, fans and supporters for your love of our event and your loyalty. We will never forget you. No one knows what the future may hold, but for now we fill to you the parting glass. God Bless and joy be with you all

09/26/2019

Thanks to everyone who has been providing us with valuable input! There are a few more things we would like input on over the next few weeks, so keep that participation coming! Today's questions are-

Should we ad exhibition games in rugby or hurling ore another Irish sport to our festival offerings? Would adding athletics make it a better event for you?

Would you like to see an Irish "Feis" or dance competition added to the Festival?

How would you feel about an Irish karaoke competition?

Finally, would you like to see us bring in an inflatable Irish pub and show sports and feature some solo acts?

09/20/2019

We want to hear from you! Take our quick survey:

Should we keep the Festival at the Saratoga County Fairgrounds or move it back to our original location at the Altamont Fairgrounds?

09/19/2019

Ok, here is today's question: we often get asked why we still call ourselves "Irish 2000" The answer is that when we started the event back in 1996, the millennium sounded forward looking and hopeful. Well the same logic doesn't apply 23 years later! If we were going to change our name or rebrand our event what name would you suggest? Should we do it at all?

09/16/2019

We had a tremendous group of entertainers this year!! Still, we also like to keep the lineup as fresh as possible. Three questions:

1- Who had the most kick-ass performance this year?
2- Which band can we absolutely without a doubt NOT leave out of next year's lineup?
3- Which new (or old one that wasn't there this year) should we absolutely without fail add to the 2020 lineup?

READY, SET, GO!!!!!!!!!!!!🇨🇮