The Indians are proud to welcome the Indianapolis Irish community to Victory Field for our second annual Irish Community Night! Celebrate Irish culture with authentic music, dancing, in-game entertainment, and a live hurling demonstration. Arrive early to enjoy a pregame concert featuring performances from Beautiful Day: U2 Tribute band. Gates open early at 5 PM.
Fans were welcomed into Victory Field with the sounds of Ireland thanks to a performance by the St. Patrick’s Day Rogues Pipes & Drums in the Center Field Plaza. Following the pregame bagpipe performance, a group of Irish dancers from the Richens/Timm Irish Dance Academy danced on the field pregame, and later danced on the dugouts during the fifth inning break.
Prior to game start, two Hurlers and a Ladies Gaelic Footballer each took part in two Ceremonial First "Hit", where they passed a small ball, called a "sliotar", with a wood stick, called a "hurley", from the pitchers mound to their teammate at home plate. In addition, the St. Patrick’s Day Rogues Pipes & Drums played the Irish National Anthem behind home plate before the Star-Spangled Banner was sung. A mix of Irish traditional music and pop music by Irish artists was played over the speakers during the Indians starting lineups and throughout inning breaks.
Throughout the game, fans could visit the Circle City Irish Fest table in front of the lineup boards for more information on the festival happening in late September. Attendees could also try their hand at hurling in the left field berm, where a batting cage was set up for fans to be able to hit a ball with a wooden hurley. During each inning break, facts about the Irish community were presented to fans on the video board. In addition, some of the Ladies of the Ancient Order of Hibernians participated in the seventh inning stretch with Rowdie on the home dugout.