Andrea Macko is reporting for Porcupine Soup both the East Durham Irish Festival and Catskills Irish Arts Week are scheduled to return in 2022. The in-person events were canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic. The Michael J. Quill Irish Cultural and Sports Centre announced last week that the 44th annual East Durham Irish Festival will take place over the Memorial Day weekend for the first time since 2019. Details of this year’s event will be announced soon. The festival features traditional Irish music, dance, food, drink, and more. It is held at the center grounds on State Route 145. The center also announced that preparations are currently underway for Catskills Irish Arts Week from July 10 to 16. Irish Arts Week is a weeklong summer school that takes place at the centre grounds and throughout the hamlet of East Durham. It celebrated 25 years in 2019. “This year promises to be a wild and beautiful gathering of traditional Irish musicians, songsters, dancers, storytellers, poets, writers and ancient handcrafters especially after the long lockdowns due to the tragic and lonely global pandemic,” organizers stated. “But as the saying goes, ‘Absence makes the heart grow fonder.’” Instructors from both Ireland and the U.S. will participate. Also on the schedule is “...Dr. Mick Moloney, ethnomusicologist, NYU professor of Irish Studies and founder of the legendary group, The Green Fields of America, who brought traditional music, song, dance and the story of the Irish culture to the stage more than 40 years ago,” organizers announced. Participants will be required to wear a mask and comply with hand-washing and distancing requirements. Information on both events is available at mjqirishcentre.com. Read the full story at porcupine soup [dot] com.