The Second Annual Heroes of Irish America Awards will take place in the Buffalo Convention Center, Buffalo, NY on Friday, May 16th, 2025 from 5:30pm-10pm — and it promises to be another spectacular night in the Irish calendar.
We invite you to join the Irish Echo as we raise a glass in Western New York to the unsung heroes of Irish America - ordinary folks, doing extraordinary work to build stronger communities. Yes, we want you to nominate the first responders, police officers, healthcare workers and others in the front lines but we know there are everyday heroes in every walk of life and we want you to submit their names too.
In April 2023, the Irish Echo brought its Irish Arts & Culture Awards to Buffalo - and was given the green carpet treatment by its ebullient Irish American community which, with its tireless endeavor and boundless energy, has claimed for itself the title of Capital of Irish America.
Business Roundtable on Ireland-U.S. Economic Relationship
You are invited to join our Hon Chair, Buffalo author and historian Tim Bohen for a 90 minute Irish Buffalo Walking Tour from 11am on Saturday 17 May. Route below – will include a coffee stop.
1. Start at the Curtiss Hotel.
2. Discuss James Joyce mural across the street to mention the Joyce Collection at UB.
3. Walk to St. Joseph's Cathedral, built by Buffalo's first bishop, John Timon and built by Irish laborers. I am checking to see if the doors are unlocked so we can tour the beautiful stained-glass windows.
4. Walk to the Guaranty Building, one of Buffalo's top 5 buildings and one of the first skyscrapers in the Northeast designed by Irish-American architect Louis Sullivan.
5. Walk to the County Hall, the site of the hangings of two Irish American Canal District guys (talk about the seedy Canal District and how the poorest Irish immigrants settled there, and how Grover Cleveland, the sheriff at the time, is the only American President to be an executioner).
6. Walk to the Mooney Brisbane Building (James Mooney was an Irish immigrant and fierce Irish nationalist who was the American head of the Land League for several years).
7. While there, the Soldiers and Sailors monument was designed by an Irish architect and built by an Irish-American granite firm.
8. Go to Shea's Buffalo and talk about the overrepresentation of Irish and Irish Americans in entertainment.
9. Head back to the Curtiss Hotel.
Along the way, we will also mention the Fenian Headquarters, near the Cathedral (O'Day's auction house) and discuss the Fenian Raid. Also, we will pass the former Donovan Building (named for General "Wild Bill" Donovan, founder of the CIA and the Mahoney Building, a powerful state senator).
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Our accommodation partner is the Five-Star Curtiss Hotel in Buffalo. To avail of our special discounted rate of $220 (plus taxes) for overnight stay on May 16th, 2025, please call the hotel on 716.954.4900 and ask for the Heroes of Irish America Awards Room Block.
