INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The Circle City Irish Fest kicks off Friday afternoon at Holy Rosary Church in the Fletcher Place neighborhood.

It’s a celebration of Irish culture, music and food. The festival takes over Stevens Street around the church grounds down to Lacy Park.

This is the first time the Circle City Irish Fest Committee is organizing the festival in its current format.

For 26 years, a different organization put on a similar Irish celebration — The Indy Irish Fest — which was discontinued in 2023.

Shortly afterward, the committee behind the Circle City Irish Festival put on a small party in November of that year to fill the gap. This year, the event has expanded to be two days long.

Cory Mahon, vice chair of the Circle City Irish Festival Committee, says he hopes all the people that attended the old festival come back this year.

“As we were setting that up, I got hooked up with this other group that was planning on putting this festival together, and we just merged teams. I’m incredibly thankful and grateful for the team that we put together. And I’m really proud of this festival.”

Throughout the weekend, about a dozen bands will be playing everything from bagpipes and traditional ballads to modern Irish rock.

One of the bands, Derek Warfield and The Young Wolfe Tones, flew in from Ireland early Friday morning. They’ve been playing gigs in Indianapolis for about 40 years.

They’ll play sets at 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

Lead singer Derek Warfield says they hope to bring a taste of Ireland to the Circle City this weekend.

“We love what we do because we sing the songs that have sustained the Irish people for generations,” Warfield said. “We love this town. We love Indy, we love the Circle City and we’re going to sing great songs.”

About a dozen vendors will be around all weekend, selling merch and giving information about their groups in the festival’s Irish Market.

Tickets to the Circle City Irish Fest are $15 for one day or $25 for both days. The fun kicks off Friday at 4 p.m. On Saturday, the festival starts at noon. The festivities run until 11 p.m. on both nights.

For tickets visit the festival website.