The team at the Irish Partnership of Pittsburgh, the umbrella organization of the Pittsburgh Irish Festival, is pleased to announce the return of BRIGID, a musical celebration of the Celtic Goddess and Patron Saint of Ireland. BRIGID will occur on Saturday, February 1, 2025 at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center! This year’s event features several new elements including a Women and Whiskey tasting experience and the Blazing a Trail Exhibit from Ireland, both detailed below.
The event, BRIGID, which continues to receive support from the Government of Ireland’s Irish Emigrant Support Programme, will once again celebrate Brigid the Saint, Brigid the Goddess, be a celebration of Irish and Celtic Women, of light and Springtime, and it is a celebration of Irish and Celtic culture including its history, its present, and its future. In 2023, the event was named “Best New Event” and in both 2023 and 2024, BRIGID received a Bronze Award for that year’s “Best Overall Event” from the International Festival and Events Association (IFEA).
Women and Whiskey
is a curated tasting experience featuring women-owned/run distilleries. Guests can attend this pre-show tasting as an add-on to their BRIGID ticket. The tasting will feature products from Love, Katie Distilling, Pittsburgh’s first LGBTQ-owned distillery, The Open Road, Pittsburgh’s primary destination for non-alcoholic adult beverages, and additional distilleries to be announced soon.
Blazing a Trail: The Lives and Legacies of Irish Diaspora Women exhibition highlights the lives and legacies of 21 Irish diaspora women in the fields of politics, humanitarianism, women’s suffrage, the arts, the sciences, and sport. They represent just a fraction of the many women who made lasting contributions in their areas of work, but who have rarely received recognition. Blazing a Trail is provided courtesy of EPIC, The Irish Emigration Museum. Guests at BRIGID can see this exhibit before the show, during intermission, and after.
Mairin Petrone, Executive Director of the Irish Partnership of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Irish Festival said, “The primary mission of BRIGID is to create awareness of Brigid, patron saint of Ireland and Celtic goddess, as well as to celebrate women in all facets of society and culture. Both Women and Whiskey and the Blazing a Trail exhibition contribute significantly to furthering this mission. We are confident our guests will enjoy these new additions.”
Also new in 2025, the Irish Partnership of Pittsburgh will host a private St. Brigid’s Day Celebration at Sacred Heart Elementary School in Shadyside as part of their Irish Education and Outreach Program. The event will feature music, dance, poetry, Brigid’s Cross making, and more. The hope is to expand the program to additional schools in future years.
Who was Brigid?
St. Brigid is one of Ireland’s three patron saints. She is celebrated annually in Ireland with the St. Brigid’s Feast Day on February 1, also referred to as Imbolc. Imbolc marks the beginning of Spring in Ireland, a movement from darkness into light. St. Brigid is the Patron Saint of poetry, beer, midwives, newborns, Irish nuns, blacksmiths, dairymaids, boatmen, learning, healing, protection, chicken farmers, cattle, scholars, sailors, and more. Brigid was also a Celtic Goddess, a Fire Goddess, and the Goddess of spring, light, life, fertility, physicians, and many others.
Event headliner Eileen Ivers, said of BRIGID, “Looking forward to being a part of BRIGID 2025 with so many wonderful artists. We had such a blast at last two BRIGID Celebrations… will surely be another magical night celebrating the life and light of one of Ireland’s beloved patron saints, St. Brigid. What a powerful tradition that Mairin Petrone and the Pittsburgh Irish Festival have started: uniting the community in music, song, dance while benefiting local charitable causes.”
Featured BRIGID performers include:
- Grammy®-Awarded and Emmy-Nominated fiddle player, Eileen Ivers.
- Ally the Piper, social media famous, multi-instrumentalist and singer with a specialty in bagpipes. Ally is, by far, the most followed bagpiper on social media.
- Morgan Bullock, the first black female touring dancer of Riverdance and 2022 recipient of the Presidential Distinguished Service Award presented by Ireland’s President Michael D. Higgins.
- The Harp Twins, identical twin harpists, singers, songwriters, and storytellers, joined by the Volfgang Twins.
- Pittsburgher, Katie Grennan, and John Williams, an Irish music master
- Bell School of Irish Dance
- Shovlin Academy of Irish Dance
Tickets for BRIGID are on sale at brigidpgh.com. The event is expected to sell-out, so the organizers recommend getting your tickets early. In the spirit of St. Brigid, a portion of the event proceeds will support the Women’s Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh.
About the Pittsburgh Irish Festival and
Irish Partnership of Pittsburgh
The Irish Partnership of Pittsburgh d.b.a. The Pittsburgh Irish Festival, Inc. is a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation created to contribute to the rich cultural awareness of Irish history and tradition that exists in Pittsburgh. In addition to our three-day Celtic Celebration, the Pittsburgh Irish Festival has expanded into a year-round resource for education and cultural programs through the creation of the Irish Education Outreach Program. Created in 1991, the Pittsburgh Irish Festival has gained recognition as an important presenter of Celtic culture due, in large part, to our highly successful festival and events like BRIGID. Just as the Festival has become one of the nation’s finest Irish-American festivals, and certainly the most comprehensive exhibit of Irish music, lore, food, and dance in the region, the organization has also become one of the region’s most prominent producers of Irish programming. For more information, visit www.pghirishfest.org.