Irish American Heritage Center — Attraction in Jefferson Township

I’m giving it two stars for the great venue and very friendly bar staff. The problem I have with the place— My wife and I had our wedding here almost a year ago. We booked 18 months in advance. Since the day of booking our wedding at this great venue, we had numerous meetings with staff members who relayed different information to us on when we could get in to set up. What was almost the final straw was when we were informed we could only get in four hours before the ceremony. Thankfully a meeting that included the executive director helped us get in the morning of. On the day of the wedding my wife was made to pay $175 to turn the key of the ceremony room (we did get reimbursed this following an email exchange after the wedding). With 1 hour left on our reception room booking, bus boys began pouring drinks into plastic glasses without asking or informing guests- not sure if this is regular practice but seemed odd.

As someone who has moved from Ireland to Chicago, it’s a venue I was excited to show off to guests from both home and here, but this situation completely soured our experience, and unfortunately we have not been back since having regularly attended functions and festivals prior to the wedding.

All the negatives being said, the bar is fantastic and the venue on the whole is great, I just wished for a better more efficient front office...

I've been to the Irish fest for about 3 years back in 2010-2013 and it was a lot of fun. They had tents outside, space to walk, things to see, music everywhere and people were able to walk around everywhere. This year, 2025, was when I decided to go back with my family, as my son was old enough to enjoy it. To be honest, I was beyond disappointed. The receptionist on the phone was rude and she was very short with me. Then the festival was all inside and it was overly crowded. People were frustrated and annoyed. I would say it was a safety hazard. There wasn't enough space for sitting, standing or walking. They ran out of a lot of the food items within the first hour of the festival starting. I'm surprised they weren't embarrassed and I'm surprised there wasn't a fight with how irritated people were. I was embarrassed to show my family, as this was their first time going. That fearival was a disaster and an embarrassment. Did I already say how rude the people were ? I have way more comments on how disorganized everything was. If the Irish festival organizers wants feedback, give me your email. I have tons of suggestions. The whole setup was a disaster.

Seriously ? What happened ? What's with...

My husband and I went to the St Patrick's Day Festival that the museum was hosting and it was a complete disaster from start to finish. We paid $30 for the admission and there seemed to be no organization to the event. We tried buying tickets for food but were told we couldn't buy tickets there. We were told this at two different ticket tables. Finally we asked someone at the Volunteer Table and they said that the tables we had gone to previously were the ticket booths for drinks AND food and that the tickets were for both. We were so upset because we spent close to an hour weaving ourselves around the building to find food. Even if I was mistaken by saying food tickets, the volunteers at the tables should have told us that the tickets they were selling were for drinks and food. The whole event was a disaster and we felt like we were denied service. It was an awful experience and definitely will not be back. I did file a complaint with the director of the event, however I felt the need to inform others because we felt this issue was not...