Live, from Peoria, Illinois, it’s Saturday Night with this week’s host, Erin Feis with a cavalcade of guest stars and featuring The Ready For Prime Beef Player, Marty Wombacher. And now, please welcome this week's host, all the way from the beautiful and scenic Peoria Riverfront, Erin Feis!
Here we go down Water Street on the sidewalk parallel to the train tracks on our way to the Gateway Building, the entrance to The Erin Feis on Peoria’s Riverfront.
The theme for this year’s Erin Feis is, "Ireland along the Illinois River", so let’s go in and sample some Irish festivities here in the midwest!
It’s really a beautiful night out here and the Peoria Riverfront is such a great spot for outdoor festivals. But what would these festivals be without the people that attend them? Not much, so let’s go say hi to some of the folks in attendance tonight!
Faces
I can’t list everyone’s name, but it was great seeing all of these people at the Erin Feis last Saturday night! I saw old friends and made some new ones in my travels. It’s always fun to people-watch at events like this and these photos are just a small sampling of the folks that came to enjoy this year’s Erin Feis and thanks to all of them and everyone else that came to the Irish Festival last weekend!
Peoria’s Riverfront is turned into an Irish village for this celebration, so let’s go look at some of the places that you can stop in for a cold beer, a bite to eat and enjoy the music and Irish culture on display at the Erin Feis.
Places
As you can see, there’s no shortage of places to go and enjoy music, food, drink and Irish culture here at Ireland on the Illinois River when the Erin Feis is in full swing on the green!
If you’re a fan of live music, the Erin Feis has multiple stages with bands playing throughout the three day festival. Let’s go take a look at some of them that were playing for the crowds here last Saturday night.
Bands
The bands for the Erin Feis come from all over the world and I wish I could’ve seen the whole lineup for the weekend. Here’s the listing of all the bands that played the Erin Feis this year: Erin Feis Band Listing. All of the bands are top-notch and I especially love to see local Peoria bands, Bogside Zukes and Turas on the bill! (Bottom photo of Turas by Colleen Kimball—taken last May.)
Man cannot live on beer, whiskey and music alone (believe me, I tried in the ‘70’s and ended up with a nasty case of mono!), so let’s go sample some food here on this Saturday night at the 2016 Erin Feis!
Food
There’s lots of food to sample here, but I decided to get my dinner from the Highland Glenn Foods truck and the McMahon’s Pints and Plates tent. I got some tasty Sriracha and honey wings from McMahon’s and a hearty and delicious Irish Sausage Roll and Chips from Highland Glenn Foods. It was a wonderful dinner and maybe next year I’ll get the courage to try the Haggis! After all the savory treats for dinner I needed something sweet to balance it out, so I got a cup of cookie dough ice cream from Uncle Bob’s Ice Cream truck. Not quite a traditional Irish dessert, but a perfect ending to a meal on a muggy end of summer evening!
Thanks to everyone involved with Erin Feis 2016, it was a wonderful time! Sláinte from Peoria’s Riverfront!
Related Posts: Saturday Night @ Erin Feis 2015, The Peoria Riverfront Museum 4th of July BBQ Party and A Riverfront Four-Course Meal On The 4th Of July.