2025 International Famine Commemoration to be held in Chicago

Minister for Culture Patrick O'Donovan has announced the 2025 International Commemoration of the Great Irish Famine will take place in Chicago next month.

The event is set for Sunday, November 2, hosted at Chicago's Gaelic Park — also home to the city's Famine Memorial.

"It is a profound honour to join with the Irish community in Chicago to remember those who endured, and those who were lost, due to An Gorta Mór," said O'Donovan, who is also the chair of the National Famine Commemoration Committee.

"This event is an opportunity to reflect not only on the hardship of the past, but also on the resilience of our people and the remarkable contributions of the Irish community in Chicago and beyond."

The event will comprise of speeches from O'Donovan as well as from Patricia Theresa Flynn, Vice President of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, followed by a wreath-laying ceremony at the memorial.

There will also be various creative and artistic contributions from the local community to commemorate the global impact of the Great Famine.

The commemoration is the joint effort of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Consulate General of Ireland in Chicago and local community of Chicago's southside.

O'Donovan said Gaelic Park is "a most fitting location" due to "its deep ties and its many years preserving and promoting Irish heritage" since it was established in 1976.

Gaelic Park also hosts Irish cultural festivals, dance competitions and even one of the United States' few GAA clubs.

Last year's commemoration took place in Edgeworthstown, Co. Longford. Previous events have been hosted at Dublin's Glasnevin Cemetery, Boston's Fanueil Hall, Liverpool's St Luke's Church and Sydney's Hyde Park Barracks.