Irish in the Jungle of the Midwest Sea
As the weather heats up and we prepare for the Midwest’s wonderful summer Irish festival season, Columbus Irish embarks on another road trip. This time, our Irish pride is shining in that bright city by the lake, Chicago!
Chicago St. Patrick’s Day Parade 2026
The St. Patrick’s Day parade (and dying green of the Chicago River) in Chicago should be a cultural requirement for all Irish Americans. In our trip to the City this year, we stayed in the Financial District, producing the wonderful people watching experience of celebratory train passengers exiting the downtown Amtrak station from Milwaukee and Philadelphia draped in their green, before they headed off for a myriad of shenanigans on the Saturday morning of the parade.
The parade itself, marched since 1843, had as Grand Marshall Revered Thomas McCarthy, OSA, this year. The Guest of Honor was the city’s world-famous Shannon Rovers Irish Pipe Band, and local news caught a sister of a piper as she boarded a party boat ahead of the morning’s River dyeing.
Modern Irish American Media
Chicago, like Cleveland, is another American city keeping alive a vibrant Irish American media environment. Radio listeners can tune into 1490 AM on Saturday mornings for the Irish Hour at 9:00 (Central Time) followed by the O’Connor Irish Radio Show. Then, on Monday nights, Ireland Tonight airs at 8:00 PM on 90.7 FM.
Chicago still supports its own Irish American newspaper, like Cleveland. It is called The Irish American News. The Chicago Irish Film Festival, which celebrated its 27th year showing Irish movies from February to March this year, provides digital access to residents of many Midwest states, including Ohio.
Chicago Irish Culture
The amount of flourishing Irish cultural institutions in Chicago is inspiring. The Irish American Heritage Center, located just inside the I90 and I94 interchange in the northwest corner of Chicago, holds a museum, art gallery, library, gift shop, and pub, and multiple rooms and spaces for Irish events and other community functions.
The City’s Gaelic Athletic Association, first founded in 1890 with a hurling game organized on the City’s West side in 1891, is the backbone of the 12-club strong USGAA Central Division. The Chicago GAA is based out of Gaelic Park, a full stadium for Gaelic Sports on the Southside, which also houses its own Irish pub (and frequently serves as a stage for Irish Rock concerts).
The touring Trinity Irish Dance Company is based in Chicago and has provided professional Irish dancing opportunities for multiple dancers from Ohio. Irish language speakers meet all over the city under the umbrella of Na Gaeil Chicago. Comhaltas North America also regularly holds its Convention in Chicago, bringing together traditional Irish musicians and language speakers from across the Midwest, Canada, and Ireland.
The Art Institute of Chicago, a key feature of the City Pass for tourists, still hangs its Irish pride amongst “Nighthawks” and Katsushika Hokusai’s “The Great Wave.” An original print of turn-of-the-19th Century Irish artist James Barry’s 9 by 17-foot-long canvas “Pandora” is on display along with American artist Ivan Albright’s macabre oil on canvas depiction of the “Picture of Dorian Gray.” “The Puritan,” a sculpture by Irish born Augustus Saint-Gaudens, also stands in the Museum and has served as inspiration for both Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” and the Netflix series “Wednesday.”
Chicago Irish History
So many great books, columns, and podcasts tell the stories of Irish Americans in Chicago. Here, I’ll focus on the physical landmarks of Irish history in the Windy City.
Two great Irish statutes stand in Chicago today. The James Connolly statue in Union Park can easily be seen by riding the Green Line CTA train to Ashford station, a fitting way to honor the man who made learning to read a requisite of joining the Irish Transport and General Workers Union. Gráinne, a statue carved in and donated by Galway to Chicago in 2007 through their Sister Cities exchange as a celebration of Irish women, stands in Heritage Green Park downtown, across the street from Chicago’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
The Newberry Library of Chicago, a famous philanthropic library, houses a voluminous Irish collection for both historical and genealogical research. Meanwhile, the Field Museum, another key feature of Chicago’s City Pass, displays the skeleton of a Megaloceros, the Irish elk – the largest deer species to ever walk our planet.
Another Round
A dive into the dives and pubs of Chicago is far too herculean a task for this column. What is great about the Irish pub scene of Chicago is the number of Irish pubs with Irish immigrant owners and workers who fill the space behind the bar with fantastic accents and brogues.
I will venture to make recommendations for your music playlist as you blow past South Bend or Indianapolis on your way to the Windy City though. Make sure to play Screaming Orphans’ City of Chicago; anything by the Southside punk rockers Flatfoot 56 (I recommend Bright Lights and Jungle of the Midwest Sea); Smashing Pumpkins’ – fronted by Irish American Billy Corgan, Tonight Tonight, and Siobhan by The Tossers.
Happy Bealtaine (Summer Festival Season) and enjoy and celebrate Irish culture wherever you may find it!
