St. Patrick’s Day and all March festivities were upended in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Determined not to let it ruin the fun this year the La Crosse-Bantry Friendship Association is planning some virtual craic. Doing what they can to make the virtual event as fun as the usual live and in person event. The event is free this year and participants can find the virtual fun at lacrossebantry.org/coulee-hoolie-ceili.
This unique Irish celebration will include music, dance, storytelling, and food demos, as well as a chance to join in the fun and maybe win a prize. Participating in the entertainment, as usual are The Coulee Hooligans and Tim Jenkins. There will also be lots of new faces to the event this year including Amadans, Dublin's Daughters, Clog Jam, Storyteller Terry Visger, Bantry resident Johnny No Cash and Máirtín de Cógáin (originally from County Cork, Ireland, now living in California). Máirtín de Cógáin is also bringing us a demo on how to make a proper cup of tea along with food and drink demos from local residents and two area restaurants.
This year’s event will benefit WisCorps in La Crosse and Bantry Tidy Towns in our sister city Bantry, Ireland. These two organizations work towards similar missions in the stewardship of our communities and natural resources, while providing education and leadership skills to the youth in each community.
Proceeds from the last event in 2019 raised $3,100 for hospice programs in La Crosse and Bantry.
This year’s Silent auction will include a guitar, hotel stays, spa package, YMCA gift certificates, martial arts gift certificates, local dining certificates, gift baskets and much more!
Hoolie: An Irish gathering or party
Ceili: A social event with Irish folk music and singing, traditional dancing and storytelling
For more information, go to
*BANTRY TIDY TOWNS: Bantry Tidy Towns is part of a national group of voluntary organisations established to help improve the appearance of towns, villages and urban centres throughout the country. It was formed as a result of “A Spring Clean” which took place back in 1958. We still have an annual Spring Clean to this day which cleans the approach roads to towns and villages throughout the country and kickstarts the clean-up of litter and the general improvement of our environment on an annual basis.Bantry Tidy Towns also works closely with all the schools in the area to promote biodiversity and sustainability, litter consciousness and all things good in the environment.This group also plays an essential role during clean up after natural events such as the floods in downtown Bantry in 2020.
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