Celebrating its ninth anniversary and moving to a new location for its grand final day celebration, Irish Fest Camden, the premiere Irish festival of the southeast, will be celebrated on Saturday, March 1, 2025 at the Kershaw County Airport in Camden.
Throughout the week of the festival, Camden businesses are invited to help join in the festivities by decorating their storefronts in an Irish theme. A committee will visit the locations with the winner receiving a unique award.
Here is a listing of the event’s festivities:
- Irish Trivia returns to Broad & Vine wine bar on Wednesday, Feb. 26 at 6:30 p.m. Admission is $25 and includes a glass of bubbly and an appetizer. Prizes every round! Visit www.broad-and-vine.com for more info.
- For the second time in as many years, the Black Box Theater, located inside the Wood Auditorium on the grounds of the Arts Center of Kershaw County will host an Irish Pub Night on Thursday, Feb. 27 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. The evening will feature a traditional Irish dinner, drinks, live music and stories about traditional Irish music and the instruments used to create it. More information may be found on www.artscenterkc.org
- Returning to the festivities for the seventh year is the Friday night Downtown Camden Pub Crawl on Friday, Feb. 28. The evening is a night of live Irish music at various venues in Camden from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m.
- One of the most popular events of the festival is the eighth annual Lucky Leprechaun 5K race/walk to be run at 8 a.m. on Saturday, March 1 at the Town Green in Camden. Registration is currently taking place online at: www.strictlyrunning.com/LL5k
The week of festivities leads up to the grand celebration at the Kershaw County Airport at 2203 Airline Drive, Camden, SC. The celebration is 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Advance tickets are now on sale online with an early bird price of $15 for adults and $5 for children. Tickets will be $20 and $7, respectively, cash-only at the gate. Tickets are available now at the Irish Fest Camden website.
The day-long, family friendly event features food and beverage vendors throughout the expansive grounds including an authentic Irish pub featuring Shepherd’s Pie. The Highland Games, a staple of the festival since its start, brings together athletes from throughout the Southeast to compete in such events as the open stone throw, the Braemer Stone throw, the Sheaf, and the light and heavy hammer toss, which have piqued the interest of festival-goers, many of whom are getting their first look at these unique athletic events.
Stations featuring soda, water, Irish and green beer, coffee and Irish coffee, along with a whiskey-tasting tent will be part of the festivities as will a kids’ zone. An Irish historian will return to share stories of folklore and history. There will be more than 40 food vendors offering a multitude of options and more than 100 retail vendors.
One of the main attractions of the day is live music and this year the headliners are the Screaming Orphans, a four-sister group from County Donegal, Ireland, who are making their second appearance at Irish Fest Camden, and Columbia’s own and festival favorite, Syr who returns to the festival for the ninth year. In addition, there will be other musical acts spread out among three stages during the course of the day.
The event supports the Irish Cultural Foundation of South Carolina and various organizations throughout the Kershaw County community. For complete information about the week-long festival in Camden, please log onto www.IrishFestCamden.com.