While Ireland may not be known for its high summer temperatures in comparison to Santa Clarita, residents had the opportunity to experience Irish culture in true Santa Clarita fashion — with the first heat wave of the year — on Friday.
Held at the Canyon Country Community Center from 6 to 9 p.m., the first installment of the city of Santa Clarita’s “Celebrate” series for 2025 represented the “Emerald Isle” through curated cocktails, crafts and castles.
Residents had the opportunity to go on a treasure hunt to look for items that embody the colors of a rainbow to earn a shamrock pin, pick out potatoes and paint with stamps made out of potatoes, paint castles and Claddagh ring cutouts and even “kiss” the Blarney Stone.
In addition, Los Angeles based Irish band Craic in the Stone performed Irish folk songs with residents gathered by tables decorated in green, white and orange.
Mike Franke, recreation leader for the city, discussed kicking off the first of five installments in 2025.
“‘Celebrate’ is an event where we say that people can come without their passport, but still experience a whole different country or culture. Each month, we celebrate them by just illustrating their live music, bands, dancers, etc.,” Franke said. “We also have free crafts and activities for a game that are similarly authentic to that country. We have food trucks that are as close to that country as well, as well as a local beer cocktail garden hosted by our Sister Cities program.”
According to Franke, residents can expect to experience New Zealand in June, Colombia in July, Italy in August and Thailand in September; no country has been repeated yet, according to Franke.
“This is the fourth year we’ve done it, and we’ve never repeated. The only time we’ve quasi repeated countries was one year we did the Sister Cities event, and it was a little bit of a hodgepodge of Ecuador, Japan and the Philippines,” Franke said. “We [get] positive feedback on social media. People seem to be excited about it. And we do see people out here right now having fun, watching the live band, participating in the arts and crafts, eating the food.”
Choosing the county is an effort made by not only the city, but residents who partake in the “Celebrate Passport” program.
“If you come to the event, you can get your passport stamped. Every time you get a stamp, that’s an entry into a drawing that we have at the end of the series. We have prizes that are related to the countries we’re representing,” Franke said. “We ask what country they’d like to see celebrated, and if we see a lot of countries that people are pushing out for, then we think this is something we should look into.”
Despite the heat as that’s expected in the months to come, Franke encourages residents to come enjoy the atmosphere.
“This is an overall fun event for the family, or even if you just want to come out with a loved one. We joke that you don’t necessarily need kids, but it’s still fun to bring out whoever you want,” Franke said. “It’s all smiles here right now, even with the heat. Being as hot as it is, it seems like people are still enjoying it.”
