This year, the St. Patrick's Festival moves beyond big floats and marching bands to probe what binds communities together. Artistic Director Aoife Carry says the theme of "roots" is meant to surface traditions that are living, shared and sometimes hidden.
When St. Patrick's Festival returns to the streets of Dublin from March 14 to March 17 the program will still offer the roaring visual feast that draws visitors from the United States and elsewhere but it will also ask audiences to slow down and listen.
Carry came to the role in 2025 after years of international touring with groups such as Cirque Du Soleil and MGM. The passionate director said the St. Patrick's Festival offered her the rare chance to make large-scale work without leaving Ireland. "It felt like it was serendipitous in the moment that I didn't need to leave Ireland again to do things that I really enjoy doing."
Aoife Carrey, Artistic Director of the St. Patrick's Festival.
That appetite for scale remains visible, from the St. Patrick's Parade including over 3,000 participants to aerial performances but it is balanced this year with slower, hands on, programming and a connection to our "roots."
"When I started last year, the theme was 'adventures', because the remit I'd been given was to bring the festival back into the city center. The theme of adventures was like, well, let's go out into the streets. Let's create a lot of visibility for the festival, a lot of street performance, really easy to access. You know, we're just really making a big noise that we're here and the festival is here. So that worked really well. That was the theme of adventures, with this invitation to have an adventure in Dublin City."
Lions and tigers and bears! Oh my! The theme of the 2025 St. Patrick's Festival was "adventures".
This year, the adventure turns inward and downward to roots and craft. Carry describes a new strand of Irish handcraft workshops that will run alongside street theatre and spectacle.
"I suppose again, with that theme of roots, and with this idea of digging in, we've really looked for work that's connected with that theme, and looking for artists that connect with that theme.
"We're keeping the structure of the festival very similar, a lot of street performances, but this year we have a new strand, which is workshops. So we've got willow weaving. We've got a fiber artist who's teaching people how to knit Aran.
Then we've got a demonstration by a lace maker and the different methods in Irish lace making. She'll be doing an entire day demonstration that you can drop in and and watch."
A street performer outside Dublin Castle in 2025.
Those workshops are practical examples of how the festival wants to link past practices with present audiences. The brochure lists willow weaving sessions, lace demonstrations, and a storytelling evening titled "Cures and Curses" that traces old healing practices as passed through families. For festival goers who prefer performance, there will be aerial circus rig shows on two days and a packed program of street theatre, music, and events in venues around the city. Full event listings and times are available from the festival events page.
International participation remains a cornerstone of the parade, and the marching bands are a particular highlight for American visitors who travel with ensembles. Carry explained the long lead time and determination required to take part.
"For the rest of the festival, we start engaging with people, maybe in April of the year previous. So as soon as the festival is over, we start talking to people the following year. But with the marching bands, there's actually a three-year cycle. So at the moment, we're currently engaging the marching bands for 2028. The bands for 2026 were decided in 2024, so those bands have been waiting a long, long time for this moment.
"They do huge amounts of fundraising. So like their entire program for three years is building up to the point that they're going to come to Ireland not perform."
The Clover Hill marching band from Virginia, USA.
This year's parade will feature eight American bands from Ohio, Arizona, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Mississippi, Indiana, and Texas, as well as bands from Scotland and Dublin. The lively and colorful parade, including 12 large floats, is expected to attract up to 500,000 visitors. Most impressively, the St. Patrick's Festival will see 100,000 international visitors landing in Ireland.
For those planning a trip or following along from home, the St. Patrick's Festival website offers the definitive schedule and parade information. Tickets for some indoor events will be limited and free outdoor events fill fast so check the digital brochure before you travel. The festival team has made a point of creating free, family-friendly programming alongside ticketed shows so visitors can tailor a trip that mixes spectacle with intimate cultural moments.
Carry says the hope is that audiences return from the city with something they can carry with them.
"This idea of roots... It's not about where you're from, it's about what we do together, like what we create together as the community, as a nation, and how the diaspora.
"I was an immigrant, working abroad and living abroad, and you feel that strong connection to home, like it never leaves you, and then when you come back, you bring some of that, what you've learned abroad, back to the country as well. So it was just this whole spread of everything, all of our shared knowledge."
To give you an idea of what St. Patrick's Festival is all about, check out these highlights from the 2025 event:
