Our top picks of events at this year's National St. Patrick's Festival!
Dublin is truly the place to be this March and if you're lucky enough to be here for the National St. Patrick's Festival 2023 from March 16th to 19th, you will have a jam-packed program of events to enjoy including the very best in music, dance, circus, conversation, spectacle, food and drink.
The theme of this year’s spectacular global celebration of Irish arts, culture, and heritage is ‘ONE’, as the Festival issues an invite to people from all over the world to come to Ireland to share, connect, participate celebrate, and remember that ‘mar a chéile sinn’ (we are one).
We've put together our top five picks of events that IrishCentral readers won't want to miss at this year's National St. Patrick's Festival.
Pillow Queens at Festival Quarter
The Festival Quarter in the National Museum of Ireland at Collins Barracks will see the iconic site transformed into a unique urban Festival with live music acts across 4 stages, live DJs, the best in Irish food and drinks, art installations, pop-up performances, and much more.
Headliners on the night of Saturday 18th March are Dublin based 4-piece indie rock band Pillow Queens. Their first album, 2020’s ‘In Waiting’ was a phenomenal success, earning the band global praise and culminating in a US national television appearance on the Late Late Show with James Corden. Tickets are available here.
Pillow Queens at Festival Quarter 
Me Auld Flower Festival
This new Irish food and drink festival is taking place in the historic fruit & veg market building in the heart of Dublin. Me Auld Flower Festival will bring the best of Ireland’s contemporary food and drink scene together in the old marketplace building. Experience a melting pot of producers, restaurants, chefs, distillers, brewers, and makers all under one roof. Listen and learn about Irish food and drink culture through demos, classes, tastings, and workshops, and get stuck in with a host of live music acts and DJs.
Céií Mór
On Friday 17th, after the St. Patrick's Day Parade, head to the Céilí Mór, a large-scale outdoor, participative event that will celebrate traditional Irish dance, language, and music. Learn the steps, enjoy the live music from the main stage, and soak up the atmosphere.
Former Riverdance and champion Irish step-dancer Dearbhla Lennon is one of Ireland’s most celebrated dancers and for over 20 years has been passing on her love and knowledge of dance to students all over the world. Dearbhla and her talented friends at the “Roddy Irish Dance Company” will be on hand to give basic instruction on some of the most well-known (and simple!) céilí dances with music by the legendary Shandrum Céilí Band.
Céií Mór at St. Patrick's Festival 
Ballad Walking Tours
Join Dublin balladeer and entertainer Seán Fitzgerald for a musical walking tour of Dublin City. You’ll hear songs and stories from Dublin, as well as sights such as Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin Castle, original Viking Dublin, and many other places. If you're feeling up for it you may join in sing-alongs to Irish songs and you'll most probably laugh a lot along the way!
ABAIR
ABAIR is an annual oral traditions program that will explore the Irish traditions of storytelling, song, and oral history and traces their links around the world. This will be examined through a wide array of concerts, pop-ups, and storytelling sessions, looking at the relationship between the song and spoken word in Ireland and abroad (the Irish word ‘abair’ translates roughly as both ‘to say’ and ‘to sing’).
The full St. Patrick's Day Festival program is available here. To be the first to hear all the news, you can join the Festival mailing list on the website and follow St. Patrick’s Festival on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
IrishCentral is a proud media partner with St. Patrick's Festival 2023.
