Irish Heritage Festival Planned for Saturday in Renovo

By Christopher Miller

RENOVO, PA – The Greater Renovo Area Heritage Park has been hard at work these past few weeks planning a half day’s worth of events for their now annual Heritage Festival event.

This year’s event has a focus on the Irish heritage of the greater Renovo area.

“We have a really great event planned this year,” said Rich Wykoff, an event organizer with Renovo Heritage Park. “We have some presentations, an Irish music sing-along, and a walking tour of “Irish Acre” meeting at 8th Street and Erie Avenue.”

The Renovo Heritage Park has generally been planning monthly events related to the history and culture of the western Clinton County area. The participation in events has also been a large source of fundraising for the organization to continue to plan more events in the future.

The events slated for Saturday include a presentation on the study of ethnic groups that moved to and settled in Renovo, a panel discussion on Renovo’s Irish history, a tour of “Irish Acre” which was a local neighborhood primarily made up of people of Irish descent and heritage, and a concert and sing-along.

Descriptions of each event are outlined below.

The Greater Renovo Area Heritage Park
Irish Heritage Festival 2023

10:00 a.m.
Maxwell Building
April Kelley
April is going to do a presentation about her study of the ethnic groups that moved to Renovo. She will share a house by house color-coded map of where each ethnic group lived in Renovo. Her presentation will lead to a focus on Irish Acre.

10:30 a.m.
Maxwell Building
Panel Discussion
Several people who are familiar with the Renovo area’s Irish Heritage will share and discuss their knowledge of Renovo’s Irish history. The audience is invited to join the discussion after each of the panel members has spoken.

11:30 a.m.
Break
There will be time to get some food, stretch legs, etc. and mosey down Erie to the corner of 8th Street and Erie Ave. where the tour of Irish Acre will begin.

12:00 p.m.
8th St. And Erie Avenue
Begin Walking Tour of Irish Acre
A tour guide will lead the group on a tour of what has been known as Irish Acre. There will be stops along the way where hosts will talk about the history or importance of what is or was in that spot.

1:00 p.m.
Heritage Park Lot
Kelley Family & Friends Concert and Sing-along

2:30 p.m.
Festival Closes