The very thought of the perception of Irish culture on campus has been, in recent years, something that Irish citizens of the area have viewed with a heavy heart. A holiday like Unofficial St. Patrick’s Day presents, as regular St. Patrick’s Day celebrations around the country continue to do, a caricature of a holiday and a people focused entirely on the drinking of alcohol to excess.

To combat the student perception of Irish culture, local Irish residents and fans of Irish culture have organized the first of what should be an annual St. Patrick’s Day Irish Cultural Festival. The gala, which takes place on the afternoon of March 17 from noon to 5 p.m. at the Independent Media Center in Urbana, will be a celebration of all facets of Irish culture intended both for people who are familiar with Celtic culture and those who are not.

“This is the first year of the event, but we’re hoping that there could be many more,” said David Johnson, Champaign resident and one of the primary event coordinators. “This year’s festival is dedicated to James Connolly, a famed Irish nationalist.”

Connolly was a natural Irish leader and was executed for leading military forces in the Easter Rising of 1916, an attempt by Irish Republicans to win independence from Great Britain.

At the event, guests will be able to learn about Connolly and other famous Irish nationalists and political figures from guest lecturers.

Irish author Sean O’Torain will be among the speakers, speaking about Irish political history and his book, “The Donegal Woman.”

“Sean O’Torain is going to talk about how American civil-rights movements affected Irish politics,” Johnson said. “His book, ‘The Donegal Woman,’ is a great achievement. It tells the true story of O’Torain’s own grandmother, who was sold into indentured servitude by her parents because of poverty. It is a brutal story of extortion, but also of hope.”

The festival will also feature many other aspects of Irish culture, such as Irish music, readings of Irish poetry, dancing and food.

“We will be eating Colcannon,” Johnson said. “Colcannon is a dish that most people just call ‘bubble and squeak’, because of the sound that it makes in the pot.”

Bubble and squeak is actually a blend of potatoes and cabbage, two of the most important and well-known staples of Irish food.

“It’s really better than it sounds,” Johnson said.

The wide variety of activities is meant to capture the interest of any person, so that all who attend can find a facet of Irish culture that they enjoy.

“I think a festival like this is a very important thing for this community,” said Regina Cassidy, Champaign resident and co-organizer of the event. “It’s insulting how Irish culture has been boiled down to drinking. Ireland has produced a great reputation for poetry, musicianship and all sort of cultural achievement. One of my favorite activities that will be going on Sunday will be the reading of traditional Irish folk-stories by area children.”

The wide field of Irish music will be represented, as the event will begin with bagpipes playing, and the music will continue throughout the rest of the day. Amid readings of Oscar Wilde and James Joyce, Irish musicians will take the stage to practice traditional and modern takes on classic Irish music.

The “Bodacious String Band” will perform, and the day will end with an Irish music jam, that has an open stage ready for all performers to practice.

“It’s not just holidays like Unofficial that makes a festival like this necessary,” said Andrew O’Baoill, a graduate student in the Institute of Communications Research who will be attending the festival. “It’s the entire misconception that people have of what being Irish is, that alcohol is the beginning and the end of Irish culture.”

O’Baoill is a native of Ireland, studying for his doctorate in America.

“One of the reasons people know so little about actual Irish culture is that there are so few people on campus who are actually from Ireland,” he said. “Last semester, only three students, none of them undergraduates, were shown to actually be on visa from Ireland.”

O’Baoill stressed that this does not mean that people who aren’t from Ireland cannot become familiar with Irish culture, and that he was glad the festival is being held for that reason.

“In Gaelic, there are two words for calling oneself Irish,” said O’Baoill. “The first, ‘E’ireannach’, means ‘I am Irish,’ in the sense of actually being from the island of Ireland. The second, ‘Gael,’ means ‘I am Irish’ in the sense of embracing Irish culture and everything that makes the nation great. Anyone can be a Gael, and share in the culture. That’s what this festival is all about.”