The fourth-annual Queens Irish Heritage Festival platformed Irish music and culture at Culture Lab. Photo: Shane O’Brien.
June 16, 2025 By Shane O’Brien
Hundreds of people visited Culture Lab LIC Saturday for the fourth-annual Queens Irish Heritage Festival, celebrating Irish music and culture as well as the importance of diversity in Long Island City.
The event, co-presented by the New York Irish Center and the McManus Irish Dance, featured five hours of continuous music and dance at Culture Lab, located at 5-25 46th Ave.
In a fitting tribute to Ireland, Saturday’s event was moved indoors at the last minute due to torrential rain which made Culture Lab’s outdoor parking lot unusable.
Crowds packed into Culture Lab for the fourth annual Queens Irish Heritage Festival. Photo: Shane O’Brien.
With hundreds packed into a smaller indoor space, the event featured a wide array of performances from renowned Irish singers, musicians and dancers, including celebrated violinist Gregory Harrington and legendary folk singer Donie Carroll.
The event, which also aimed to celebrate the interconnections between New York and other cultures in the city, featured a “Crossroads Concert,” blending Irish folk with traditional Ghanaian music. The New York Irish Center has been regularly platforming Crossroads Concerts since last October, highlighting the importance of connection between different cultures in the city.
On Saturday, Irish musicians Colin Harte and Dylan James combined with Ghanaian musicians Amos Gabia, Raymond Odai Laryea and Julian Bortey Kwandahor to provide a fusion of Irish folk and West African beats.
New York Irish Center’s Crossroads Concert blended Irish music with West African beats. Photo: Shane O’Brien
The fourth-annual Queens Irish Heritage Festival concluded with a stirring performance from contemporary Irish dance group JigGIG.
George Heslin, executive director of the New York Irish Festival, said the Irish Heritage Festival represents an important celebration of Ireland outside the traditional month of March.
“It’s very important that we celebrate Irish culture outside of March,” Heslin said. “40% of Americans claim Irish descent. We have immigrants from every county in Ireland who reside in practically every neighborhood of New York City right now.”
Heslin said the annual event is also a celebration of Queens’s diversity and immigrant communities at a time when immigrant communities are experiencing increased fear.
“I’ve been a proud immigrant in America for 31 years,” Heslin said. “I’ve never, ever once met a lazy immigrant. I came to America. I stayed for the immigrants, the people I’ve met on my journey, extraordinary cultures, and such extraordinarily hard-working people. People who want to just make their give their family a better life.”
Edjo Wheeler, executive director of Culture Lab, said the organization was proud to host the Queens Irish Heritage Festival for the first time, noting that Culture Lab will host 12 different cultural festivals throughout 2025.
“Queens is the world’s borough, and we need to represent that,” Wheeler said. “It’s why culture lab was created in the first place, to have a place where everyone is welcome and to celebrate the things that make us unique.”
Edjo Wheeler and George Heslin embrace the Queens Irish Heritage Festival. Photo: Shane O’Brien
Helena Nolan, the Consul General of Ireland in New York, praised the New York Irish Center as a “role model” in community and cultural engagement, praising the organization for its inclusive and innovative programming.
Council Member Julie Won similarly praised the New York Irish Center for its inclusivity and highlighted the importance of celebrating the strong Irish community in the local neighborhood. Won also gave a shout-out to popular Woodside Irish bar Donovan’s, describing it as one of the best and oldest bars in the neighborhood.
Council Member Julie Won. Photo: Shane O’Brien.
State Sen. Kristen Gonzalez said events like the Queens Irish Heritage Festival are crucial at a moment of “division” in the United States.
“Right now is a hard moment, and coming to spaces like these that celebrate not only culture, but the diversity right here in our neighborhood is exactly what we need more of at a time where there’s a lot of division,” Gonzalez said.
She said it was “inspirational” to see the Irish Center celebrate diversity and the value that “every single person deserves dignity.”
Assembly Member Claire Valdez said events like Saturday’s heritage festival highlighted the need to support community organizations that influence the lives, culture and language of local residents.
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