Iowa Irish Fest's good fortune continues after nearly two decades

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WATERLOO -- Iowa Irish Fest has humble beginnings in Waterloo, but it has grown into a premier annual event.

Chad Shipman, who recently stepped down as festival director, has been involved with the three-day event since its second year.

"The first fest featured two bands in a parking lot, and a couple hundred people showed up." he said. "There were six of us on the planning committee. Now there are more than 100."

Prominent developer and lawyer Jim Walsh and then owner of Jameson's Public House Buck Clark - who would later serve as Waterloo mayor - are credited with founding the festival in 2006.

"In the initial years, a good portion of attendees were friends and relatives Jim had bused in from Chicago," said Shipman, who remains on the festival board.

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The event began to grow quickly.

A 2007 Courier story announced the festival would be moved to Lincoln Park, feature at least four nationally-recognized musical and dance acts and was expected to draw 12,000 visitors. As the event drew nearer that year, more bands, vendors and competitions were added, including tug of war, best legs in a kilt and strongest person.

Admission was $5 for a day or $10 for a three-day pass.

The following year, Gaelic Storm made its first appearance at what by then became known as Iowa Irish Fest. The Trinity Irish Dancers were also added to the lineup. The event had grown to three stages in and around Lincoln Park.

The festival took on a more family-friendly atmosphere the next year with the addition of activities like cooking demonstrations, a jump house and face painting

"This year, the Irish Fest fun goes beyond the stages. We have more activities planned than ever before," Clark said at the time. "This has really morphed into an event that the entire family can enjoy."

Organizers estimated the festival brought about $475,000 to downtown businesses that year.

"We'll serve around 8,000 people in the course of three days," said then head chef at Jameson's Mike Williams. "It's like three straight St. Patrick's Days - and St. Patrick's Day is our busiest day of the year."

Williams said the Irish pub was looking to sell $12,000 worth of food over the weekend, including 100 pounds of corned beef, 100 pounds of ground beef and 500 pounds of potatoes.

By 2010, attendance expectations had grown to 25,000. It was the largest event in Iowa dedicated to celebrating Irish culture and heritage. That's the year it was deemed "a major entertainment and tourism event" for the city drawing "unprecedented" crowds, read a Courier editorial from the time. It went on to thank Gaelic Storm for continuing to draw ever-growing numbers of people to the festival and pointed out that festival-goers have patronized hotels, restaurants and other venues throughout the city.

Over the years, the festival has made an effort to preserve its community-based mission, including donating to local nonprofits and even sharing in the community's pain when two young cousins - Lyric Cook-Morrissey and Elizabeth Collins - went missing just weeks before the 2012 event. Organizers named the Saturday of that year's festival Elizabeth & Lyric Day and encouraged guests to wear pink ribbons while trying to raise awareness about the case. The girls' bodies were found in December 2012. They had been murdered.

That year, the well-attended outdoor Sunday Catholic Mass had already established a foothold at the festival.

Organizers had replaced a more general church service with the Mass the year before as a nod to Ireland's Catholic majority and heritage, though people of all denominations were welcome.

"Watching them come down the sidewalks, every way you looked they were coming, like a gathering people. It's just a beautiful sight," said Monsignor Lyle Wilgenbush, episcopal vicar of Waterloo at the time.

Organizers estimated about 1,500 attended the Mass that year.

As the festival enjoyed steady growth - it rose another 15% in 2014 - organizers added related activities, including the Celtic Cruise motorcycle ride, the ShamRock 'n' Run 5K and the High Nelly Bike Rally.

Another milestone was marked with the first-ever Iowa Irish Fest wedding held in 2015 when Robert Fisher and Kendra Frosp tied the knot on the same stage where they became engaged the year before. Groomsmen wore kilts and bridesmaids were garnished in beautiful green gowns.

Gaelic Storm continued to draw large crowds with their show attendance nearing 10,000 in the festival's sixth year.

Another Courier editorial claimed, "Irish Fest is here to stay."

By 2013, the festival boasted 19 merchandise vendors, 14 food merchants and crowds numbering upwards of 25,000.

Another band, the Red Hot Chilli Pipers, would also begin winning over Irish Fest audiences that year.

"Our sponsorship - business involvement - is up 15%. Our pre-sold revenue is up 40% (with more than 50% of attendees coming from outside of Black Hawk County)," Shipman said in 2016."Last year, our attendance was 37,500. I'm looking at a 15-20% increase. I feel real good that we can do 20%, combined over the three days."

While ticket prices went up to $20 for a weekend pass, revenue was up 5% and vendor and beverage sales rose 20%.

A rugby tournament was also added that year.

The festival had become a preeminent event.

"Look at what the Cedar Valley has that no one else has," Shipman said in 2017. "We have one of the top five Irish fests internationally. People are coming to Waterloo. That's something the community should be very proud of."

"Since then it has been steady growth," Shipman said.

"We had our biggest year in 2019 when just short of 48,000 people attended," he said. "We've grown from that parking lot to covering 12 city blocks. We never thought it would outgrow the park.

"This was Jim's dream of sharing his family and his culture with the community. Now we have several family reunions held at the festival each year, and we draw people from all over the world."

This year's festival will feature more than two dozen bands on seven stages. The Waterloo event has grown into the largest Irish festival in the Midwest - bigger than those in larger cities such as Kansas City, Missouri, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and St. Paul, Minnesota.

It now takes 1,500 volunteers to put on the festival.

"We couldn't do it without them," Shipman said. "Or the support of our sponsors and the city. The entire community has been fantastic and integral to the success of the festival."

This year's Iowa Irish Fest continues from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday and 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

For more information and a complete schedule, go to iowairishfest.com.

Photos: The 2024 Iowa Irish Fest in downtown Waterloo 0 Comments Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0

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