Mayo Day 2019 to be celebrated in New York City on May 4

The County Mayo Foundation will host its annual event on May 4Suzanne Mischyshyn / Creative Commons

The Mayo Senior Football team will be special guests at this weekend’s event

Mayo Day 2019 will be hosted by the County Mayo Foundation on May 4 at Battery Park City’s Irish Hunger Memorial in New York City.

A worldwide event, Mayo Day brings Mayo people of all stripes together to celebrate the county’s culture, its vibrant communities, and its unquenchable spirit.

Marking its fifth anniversary this year, Mayo Day will focus on “Mayo Word,” a theme that speaks to Mayo people who have impacted the world as writers, poets, historians, musicians, business leaders and thinkers, athletes, innovators, and community leaders.

The free event is being hosted on Saturday, May 4 from 12 noon to 1:30 p.m. in Battery Park City (at Vesey Street and North End Avenue), and will include remarks from Mayo County Councilor Michael Holmes and the Mayo County Council Head of Communications Martina Hughes.

Holmes will be presenting attorney and immigration activist Brian O’Dwyer with the Mayo Day New York Award. O’Dwyer, who served as grand marshal of this year’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade in New York City, is the son of the late Paul O’Dwyer from Bohola, Co. Mayo.

Brian O'Dwyer

New York-based singer-songwriter John Munnelly, whose parents come from Mayo, will perform two songs, and Mayo native Maura Mulligan, author of the memoir “Call of the Lark” will read an excerpt from her book.

The Irish Hunger Memorial, which has been a part of the downtown New York City landscape since 2002, features an abandoned stone cottage taken from a village in Mayo, along with stone walls from Ireland’s 32 counties, as well as fallow potato fields and flora from the West of Ireland.

The Irish Hunger Memorial in NYC (Getty Images)

The Mayo Senior Football Team, who is stateside ahead of their May 5 matchup with the New York Senior Football Team in Gaelic Park, will be special guests at the event on May 4.

The celebration in New York is just one of many taking place across County Mayo and around the world. The campaign in Ireland is being launched at the National Museum of Ireland – Country Life in Turlough, Co. Mayo, also on May 4th.

Geraldine Sweeney (a member of the foundation's board), Siobhan Carney (president) and Jim Waldron, former president of the foundation.

About the County Mayo Foundation: The County Mayo Foundation is organized and operates as a non-profit corporation under the non-profit corporation law of the State of New York. Its purpose is to connect Mayo Diaspora living in the U.S. with the non-profit community in County Mayo. The foundation will also support people and non-profit organizations in the United States of America who have ties to County Mayo. More information on the foundation can be found on their website.

About Mayo Day: Now in its fifth year, Mayo Day, which was originally launched by Mayo County Council, has garnered international success and recognition as a highly anticipated yearly celebration. Previous Mayo Day events saw activities take place locally, nationally and internationally, capturing people’s attention within the county of Mayo and around the world.

Are you or your relatives from Co Mayo? Let us know in the comments!