“Walking in the Footsteps…of our Irish Famine Ancestors” 5k walk plans to honor those who are suffering from famine or displacement.

All are invited to take part in “Walking in the Footsteps…of our Irish Famine Ancestors,” a 5K walk to honor people who are suffering from hunger, famine or displacement in today’s world, on Sunday, May 26 at 9:30 a.m. at the entrance to the Farmington Canal across from the York Hill Campus of Quinnipiac University, 305 Sherman Avenue, Hamden, Connecticut. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m.

This inaugural 5K walk will be a sister walk to the National Famine Walk in Ireland, which will take place over five days from May 26-30. Christine Kinealy, director of Ireland’s Great Hunger Institute at Quinnipiac and professor of history, will be in Ireland to take part in the walk, which will follow in the footsteps of the 1,490 tenants from the Strokestown Estate who were forced to immigrate to Canada during the summer of 1847. Almost half of them perished. 

Participants will walk more than 100 miles from Roscommon to Dublin. The walk will end at the Dublin quayside with participants boarding the Jeanie Johnston Famine Ship, near Rowan Gillespie’s haunting famine statues.

Registration for the Hamden walk is $25 for adults; $20 for students, senior citizens and young people age 18 or under. T-shirts will be given to the first 250 registrants. Water and snacks will be available.  The walk will take place rain or shine. 

Participants are asked to consider bringing a non-perishable food item to be donated to a local food bank. Any profits from the walk will benefit Ireland’s Great Hunger Institute and Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum at Quinnipiac.

For more information, call 203-582-6576 or email [email protected].

Read more: Teach Irish Famine, as well as Holocaust, says leading Irish American academic