The rolling green fields, friendly folks and Irish pride can make you feel like you’ve boarded a plane and landed on the Emerald Isle for an extended visit. You have instead found your pot of gold in the Great Northern Catskills—East Durham to be precise. And with the 45th Annual East Durham Irish Festival set for May 28-29, there is a sense of growing anticipation in this welcoming community in the Catskill Mountains region of upstate New York.
Irish natives, Irish-Americans and just about anyone who enjoys the many spoils of Irish-America are all gearing up for an unofficial start to summer that celebrates a nationality with its own holiday, its own saint, its own brand of music and a sense of revelry that is historic.
East Durham has long been a destination for Irish-Americans and the Irish living in America. And this will culminate on Memorial Day weekend as thousands descend upon this Hudson Valley community for a celebration that may rank second only to St. Patrick’s Day on March 17.
The Irish Festival maintains a rich tradition of East Durham visitors arriving by train to the Amtrak station in Hudson and making their way across the Hudson River to Greene County.
Once in East Durham, you’ll enjoy festivities that kick off at noon on May 28 with live music on the Jack Gavin Stage, named for the festival’s first chairman and a 2022 honoree. Four stages and 17 acts later, the music winds down with the Young Dubliners performing at 6:30 p.m.
Things pick up again Sunday morning with Mass at 10 a.m., followed by a color guard, honoree tributes and entertainment that includes bagpipes, Irish step dancing and a performance by Ronan Tynan. The acclaimed vocalist was introduced to international audiences as a member of the Irish Tenors. And he raised his profile among millions of television viewers while singing “God Bless America” during the seventh-inning stretch at Yankee Stadium.
The East Durham Irish Festival will take place at the Michael J. Quill Irish Cultural & Sport Centre on Route 145 in East Durham.
Named for the founder of the Transport Workers Union of America, the Quill Centre is a vast expanse of open space that pays tribute to those Irish who helped build America; Ireland’s deep roots in the Roman Catholic Church; and the manner in which sports play a pivotal role in the lives of the Irish and Irish-Americans.
Visit the Michael J. Quill Irish Cultural & Sport Centre and you can admire a 200-year-old thatched cottage, from Carrickataggart, County Donegal, that evokes the Irish countryside. There is also an oversized, walkable map of Ireland that the Quill Centre boasts is the largest in the world. Mass Rock honors those members of the Irish clergy who centuries ago were persecuted for practicing their faith.
And with all the history at hand, the athletic fields and fairgrounds at the Quill Centre offer plenty of space to blow off some steam and engage in the time-honored Irish tradition of celebrating family, friends and heritage with live music and more.
Visit eastdurhamirishfestival.com to learn more.
The community of East Durham offers plenty of year-round reminders of its position as a highly sought-after destination for all things Irish.
For starters, many business signs—and the East Durham Volunteer Fire Company—feature shamrocks.
And then there are the businesses themselves.
There is the Shamrock House Resort. And the Guaranteed Irish Gift Shop offers an overwhelming array of items for children, lovers of Guinness and just about everyone in between. Even Lawyer’s General Store gets in on the fun, with a shamrock that replaces the apostrophe on its sign, and a delicious corn beef sandwich on rye bread.
Looming large over it all is Gavin’s Irish Country Inn, which from its hilltop perch could convince the biggest skeptic that East Durham has harnessed the spirit of all things Irish. Not far from the resort’s on-site Irish pub, Bernadette Gavin spoke recently of her family’s history with the Irish Festival and how they and their inn have anchored the community for generations.
The Gavins have owned Gavin’s Irish Country Inn since 1961.
Bernadette’s father, Jack Gavin, grew up in Yonkers and was one of eight children. His parents, Bernadette’s grandparents—Nelly and Jim Gavin—were Irish immigrants from County Mayo. Jim Gavin helped build the New York City Subway System, worked as a trolley driver and later opened a bar in Yonkers, near the train station that today welcomes Amtrak passengers.
Word of mouth brought the family—along with many other Irish families—to East Durham for vacations. Bernadette’s grandparents fell in love with the inn where they were staying, bought it and the rest is history.
Bernadette’s parents first met at a dance in Rockaway, Queens, while her father was attending Fordham University. They parted ways and sometime later randomly reunited when another East Durham inn was sold out and Bernadette’s mother—who was born in Dublin—was directed to stay at Gavin’s.
Jack Gavin was instrumental in launching the East Durham Irish Festival, as a way to kickstart the tourist season and drum up business before the traditional start of summer.
So how did East Durham become a destination for the Irish, initially?
“Someone discovered it and it was a place they could afford to come,” said Bernadette, who recently purchased Nelly’s on Route 145, “An Irish country cafe experience with an onsite bakery and gift shop,” according to its Facebook page.
And why does East Durham endure as a destination for the Irish?
“We’re one of the last, authentic Irish-American meccas in the United States of America,” Bernadette said.
She added, “This reminds everyone of Ireland. This is your home away from home.”
Visit gavinsinn.com to learn more.
Once you have availed yourself of all that the Irish Festival has to offer, there remains plenty to be enjoyed in East Durham and Greene County as well. This includes:
Visit greatnortherncatskills.com for more information about visiting Greene County.
Experience the scenic beauty of Greene County via Amtrak to Hudson Station (HUD) in Columbia County. Don’t forget to use the I Love New York 15% discount!
Rent a car from Enterprise! Enterprise picks you up at HUD and takes you to your rental car. Use the code, NYTRAIN, for a discount when making your reservation. Click here to reserve your car or call Enterprise’s Hudson office: 518-828-5492.
If you’re making your trip from Long Island or NYC, you can find Amtrak at Moynihan Train Hall, located in Penn Station. Taking the Long Island Railroad to Penn Station leads you right to Moynihan Train Hall, making it an easy and convenient travel option.
Amtrak has taken several initiatives to ensure the safety of its passengers. They have committed to requiring face masks for all passengers, converting the cafe car to takeout only, adding social distance signage, and much more.
