FARMINGTON — The performance space at the Emery Community Arts Center is being transformed into an Irish pub for a special Saturday night celebration.

Located on the campus of the University of Maine at Farmington, the Irish Pub Night is being offered to the community by the arts center as a celebration of spring and to thank supportive audiences for this second year of events, Jayne Decker, arts center director, said.

Doors open at 7 p.m. with the Portland band The Press Gang providing traditional Irish music starting at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 11. A special menu of Irish pub fare will be available along with a cash bar featuring Irish beers. 

Last year, a Great Gatsby event was held on the lawn.

It’s about using the center’s performance space to create an environment, Decker said. The idea was formed, and now the space is undergoing a transformation.

The seats are being removed and some pub tables added. A long bar is being built in the space and lighting added to resemble an Irish pub.

Photos of Ireland taken by some UMF faculty members on a trip last fall also provided inspiration for the celebration. Some of the photos will be projected for viewing Saturday, she said.

The Portland band came highly recommended after performances at Skye Theatre Performing Arts Center in Carthage, Decker said. Phil McIntyre, owner of the center, has showcased the band for the many Celtic-music followers in the area.

“The group features the talents of squeezebox player Christian “Junior” Stevens, fiddler Alden Robinson, and guitarist Owen Marshall,” according to a news release.

“We’re hoping for a crowd,” Decker said.

Admittance to the Irish Pub is free, as is the Irish pub fare or appetizers, she said.

abryant@sunjournal.com

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