You’ve heard of Cinco de Mayo, but what about Mayo Day? For the fifth year in a row, the County Mayo Foundation will celebrate Mayo Day this Saturday, May 4th, in New York City, while across the Atlantic the Mayo County Council will host a blockbuster event at the National Museum of Ireland – Country Life in Turlough. On Sunday, May 5th, the Mayo G.A.A. football team heads off against the New York G.A.A. club in the Connacht Gaelic Football Championship at Gaelic Park in the Bronx.

“Mayo Day is the day dedicated to the celebration of culture, vibrant communities, and unquenchable spirit of County Mayo and its people,” says the County Mayo Foundation. “Mayo Day provides an opportunity for Mayo people to celebrate all that is great about their progressive, can-do county—it’s an opportunity for Mayo people at home and away to celebrate who they are and where they come from.”

The event in New York will take place at 12 noon at the Irish Hunger Memorial in New York’s Battery Park City, nearby the site of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan and will honor Brian O’Dwyer, senior partner at the law firm O’Dwyer & Bernstein, LLP, with the County Mayo Foundation Mayo Day Award. The event will also feature music by Mayo songwriter John Munnelly and the Castlebar Concert Band and special guests Maura Mulligan, author of “Call of the Lark,” and the Mayo Senior Football Team in advance of their Sunday game against New York G.A.A.

Meanwhile in County Mayo itself, the flagship event of the day will focus on the theme of the Mayo Word, representing the countless writers, artists, historians, poets, business leaders and thinkers, athletes, innovators will descend on the National Museum of Ireland in Mayo to “focus on all the elements of where the Mayo Word can be found in discourse, stories, poetry, song, even non-verbal communication,” according to the Mayo County Council.

“Mayo Day 2019 is all about asking ourselves the questions; what does being part of the Mayo community mean to me? How do I communicate my sense of pride of being from Mayo? The Mayo Word and how it is conveyed into action will be represented throughout all elements this year’s Mayo Day campaign,” says Peter Hynes, chief executive of the Mayo County Council.

If you or someone you know is from Mayo, or has roots in the county, you can participate anywhere in the world by using #MayoDay, which last year trended internationally, bringing all people with a connection to Mayo for a virtual county reunion.

And, even if you don’t have any Mayo connections, you can still shop our great selection of Aran sweaters from Carraig Donn, based in Westport. And check out the best places to visit any time of year in County Mayo.

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Are you celebrating Mayo Day? Let us know in the comments below!