Koroit Irish Festival

Friday 27 - Sunday 29 April 2011

The township of Koroit celebrates its Irish heritage with a weekend of music and dancing during the last weekend in April each year.

Situated on the northern slopes of the dormant Tower Hill volcano, the township of Koroit has been recognised as one of the most complete examples of an early Irish settlement in Australia. In the 1840s and 1850s Irish immigrants fleeing the great potato famine, were encourage to settle as tenant farmers and soon outnumbered other settlers in the area, who were mainly Scottish and English.

Strong Irish Heritage

Koroit has a closeknit community of around 1800, with a number of events through the year recognising the towns Irish heritage. The Irish Festival features live music at the hotels in the evening, with a market day and live music on four stages down the main street during the day.

Festival highlights include a float parade down the main street, with the school children from Koroit marching behind the flags of the 32 Irish counties. A spud picking event is a crowd favourite and in 2010 the festival attracted its first international act with the Craic Hooers from Dublin, Ireland. 2010 also saw the introduction of a traditional Irish House Party, where a group of about 20 musicians seated in a circle playing traditional Irish songs, combined with singing, dancing and eating. "House Guests" are encouraged to pull up a chair and join in.

More information:

• About Koroit
• Official Festival Website