MADISON, Wis. — Every year, thousands celebrate culture at Madison’s Irish Fest.
This year, the festival took place across Madison’s metro for an entire weekend. Approximately 1,000 people attended.
During the last celebration on Sunday, people ate traditional Irish food, watched live music and shopped from vendors.
Kathleen Masino performed and sold products Sunday. Masino performed with her band, ‘Three Pints Gone.’
“So I made this design, and that was in 2018, and I’ve sold over 3000 of them on Etsy now,” said Masino.
Her business, ‘Scottish Blossoms’ celebrates culture with pins and corsages made from Scottish and Irish quilts.
“So the patterns are very different and many of which come with your history,” but your name is, so there’s 360 of them here. But there are 14,000 tartans. “But I have 3 or 60 of kind of the more, more prevalent names,” said Masino.
She went on to say, “So I just started pieces of their leftover tartan so they could match their their husbands quilt, or they could be the show their family tartan.” “And then I went but scraps, and now I work with a couple different mills in in Scotland.”
When selling her products, Masino assists her customers during some of the most difficult times of their lives.
“Well, you do get to make up for their the good and the bad. I make them for a funeral where they bury their loved one,” said Masino.
Reuniting people with their culture is common at Irish Fest according to event organizer, Bonnie Sommers-Olson.
“People come here who actually make products that people can get their own plant or their own crust, depending if they’re Scottish or Irish. They connect with people in the community. But I see people bringing their grandparents and bringing their babies because I think it’s multi-generational,” said Sommers-Olson.
To learn more about Scottish Blossom click here.
To learn more about Irish Fest, click here.
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