Companies rally to join Irish Post as Sponsors of Europe’s biggest Irish Festival

Companies rally to join Irish Post as Sponsors of Europe’s biggest Irish Festival

After a recent article in the Irish Post, this years Manchester Irish Festival has been encouraged by offers of help and financial support to maintain its position as one of the biggest Irish Festival in Europe.

Kevin Fitzpatrick one of the co-chairs of this years Irish Festival said “The response to the Irish Post advertisement asking for sponsors has been very encouraging. It is great to have the newspaper as our main media sponsor once again.

Deals have already been secured with Guinness and Magners as our other main sponsors and we are hoping to tie up a deal with another major Irish company. The festival line up is one of our biggest yet, it is packed with headline events, it has even secured a world premiere and a film company from New York are flying over to do a VIP screening of a new Irish Music documentary.”

“People seem to think we have a team of paid workers working on the festival all year round, but we are just a small group of hard working volunteers, whose only aim is to promote Irish Culture in Manchester and around the world. We are very grateful for the support given to us on a year by year basis by local Irish companies and our local Irish venues, who stage events and take out adverts.”

The Festival annually attracts over 200,000 visitors to its 17 day extravaganza which will feature over 200 events at eighty different venues throughout Greater Manchester.

This year the two week festival will run from Friday 2 March until Sunday 18 March.. This year’s headline events include a VIP Packed Gala Awards dinner hosted by Keith Duffy from Coronation Street, plus special concerts from Tommy Fleming, The Dubliners, Sinead O’Connor and the debut of Manchester’s first Irish Orchestra ‘Ivernia’. The festival is also hosting the Guinness sponsored VIP UK screening of an Irish Music documentary which was filmed in New York, as well as the world premier for Paul O’Grady’s ‘Street of Dreams’ about Coronation Street .

The City centre will be turned Green from Thursday 8th March until Sunday 11th March for its Parade weekend. The special event in Albert Square in front of the Town Hall features a four day city centre Irish Festival market and Cask Ale Beer Festival and a town hall reception, which is expected to attract over 100,000 during the Parade weekend.

There are still a couple of sponsorship opportunities available during the festival one of which is to sponsor the three hour St Patrick’s Day Parade on Sunday 11th March, which is officially the UK’s biggest Irish Festival Parade. Companies or individuals who would like further information about sponsorship or advertising opportunities in the festival can contact Kevin on 0770 237 1966 or email info@manchesteririshfestival.co.uk or visit the website on www.manchesteririshfestival.co.uk