11th March, 2011

St. Patrick’s Day Luncheons Across Canada

See photos

On Friday March 11, 2011, over 1300 Irish and Honorary Irish celebrated St. Patrick’s Day in what is now “truly” the world’s largest St Patrick’s Day luncheon.

For the first time, the Ireland Fund of Canada (IFOC) hosted St. Patrick’s Day luncheons in St. John’s, Toronto and Vancouver, celebrating all things Irish and providing support for IFOC projects from coast to coast.

The Toronto Lunch

This year for the first time in Toronto, we re-created a traditional Irish pub where guests could enjoy the pre and post lunch receptions. During lunch guests enjoyed a traditional Irish luncheon with great food, music, dance and Irish Craic featuring Hugo Straney along with Brogue and Trish and Aideen O'Brien.

The Vancouver Lunch

Ireland’s signature, the harp, played by Lori Pappajohn welcomed 110 guests to an afternoon of Irish cuisine, song and Irish dance. The lunch was hosted by Fiona Forbes, co-host of Urban Rush and was honoured to include John Furlong, CEO VANOC 2010. Musical performance by Roolya Boolya and dance performance by De Denaan Irish Dancers entertained our guests. 

The Newfoundland Lunch

A small but enthusiastic group enjoyed lunch at Blue on Water. It was a great way to introduce the Ireland Fund to Newfoundland and to gain support for future events.

We would like to thank our sponsors; Pillar Sponsor – Guinness / Diageo Canada; Bronze Sponsors – The Irish Embassy and P.J. O’Brien’s Pubs, Vancouver Sponsor – Cadillac Fairview, Pacific Centre and our Wine Sponsor, Peninsula Ridge. Thank you also to Irish Connections and William C. Smith (Smitty) for taking so many great photos of the Toronto event.

Congratulations to Chair, Terry Smith, the Luncheon Committee and volunteers on a successful event!