An Ri Ra Montana Irish Festival Aug. 8-10

An Ri Ra, a Montana Irish Festival that promotes Irish culture, is coming to Butte Aug. 8-10. 

The festival brings in performers from around the country and Ireland who will perform both traditional and contemporary Irish music and dance. Outdoor performances will be at the Original Mine Yard, so bring your lawn chair and umbrella, sit back, and enjoy the music. There will also be Irish related workshops and an author series, as well as local food and craft vendors.

An Ri Ra is a production of the Montana Gaelic Cultural Society, an entirely volunteer organization. The festival is solely funded through corporate and individual donations, raffles, and grants from the local government.

Admission is free. For information on lodging and camping during the festival contact the Butte-Silver Bow Chamber of Commerce at 406-723-3177. For more information on the schedule, including festival workshops and lecture series information, visit https://www.mtgaelic.org/anrira.

The festival is held at the Original Mine Yard. This unique venue is a mine yard which has been converted into a public park. The headframe and other mine buildings are still on site. It is a great place to take in scenic views of Uptown Butte while being surrounded by buildings of historical significance. The stage that will house An Ri Ra performances sits within a headframe.

Headframes are reminders of Butte’s rich mining history and can be found dotting the skyline of Butte. It is a structural frame above an underground mine shaft, and was once used to lower miners, mules, equipment and supplies down the shafts and bring up load after load of ore.