Continued: This weekend in St. Paul we're all Irish

Got the best legs ever seen under a kilt? Care to trace your Irish ancestry? Want to taste lamb burgers, potato soup or soda bread?

The Irish Fair of Minnesota, the largest free celebration of Irish heritage in the Upper Midwest, opens Friday on Harriet Island in St. Paul. The three-day fair, in its 30th year, will have more sports than ever, including an Irish vs. Brits soccer match.

St. Paul is a city famous for its Irish heritage, with about 12 percent of residents claiming roots in Ireland, making the regional fair a natural fit. But last year it drew an estimated 100,000 people, about 35 percent of whom have no Irish blood at all.

"The core of what it's about is to really preserve a sense of the Irish culture here in Minnesota," said Kieran Folliard, chairman of the Irish Fair. The weekend is a celebration of all aspects of Irish culture, he said, "paying a little bit of homage to the ancestors and recognizing there are immigrants today and do something symbolic by making donations to their cultural activities in the Twin Cities."

Those donations come from the Irish Fair Legacy Fund, which awards grants to Irish cultural groups and non-Irish immigrant groups. For instance, money has gone to Irish music youth workshops, English learning classes for new Americans, and sewing skills for Somali women.

"It's a cultural festival that attracts well beyond the heritage circle," said Steve Cerkvenik, the fair's executive director. "People connect to it and enjoy it in many ways."

The festival will have music, sporting events, dancing and workshops on Gaelic language, genealogy, Irish instruments and crafts. Boxing exhibitions, popular at past festivals, will continue through the weekend with scrappy Irish boxers in 1920s-style attire. The fair also will feature its second Idol Contest, with competing music or dance acts that are Irish or Celtic in nature.

About 50 vendors, 15 artisans and a dozen community organizations will sell products or set up exhibits.

Musical headliners this year include: Flogging Molly, a band that plays traditional Irish music spiked with punk rock; the Elders, a Celtic rock band from Kansas City; The Tannahill Weavers, a Scottish band that performs a mix of rich ballads and foot-stomping jigs and reels; the Fuchsia Band from County Cork in Ireland; Scythian, led by two fiddlers, and Stephen's Green, a Dublin duo that entertains with traditional Irish tunes and humor. Also performing will be Minnesota's own Wild Colonial Bhoys, a pub band; Belfast Cowboys, a Van Morrison cover band, and Romantica, an Irish Americana pop band led by Belfast native Ben Kyle.

Kevin Giles • 651-298-1554