Irish Cultural Center moves to West SideDate: 12/17/2015 WEST SPRINGFIELD – The Irish Cultural Center of Western New England, which moved from Elms College to the former Elks Lodge in West Springfield in July, has taken steps forward in its renovation. Mayor Edward Sullivan and Irish Cultural Center Board President Sean Cahillane gave updates to the project at a press conference on Dec. 14.
Cahillane said since taking over the building over the summer, he and his team have been working to get it back in working order after years of inactivity.
“It had been vacant for a while,” he said. “It needed some tender love and care.”
The building will eventually be home to a museum and library collection, a traditional Irish pub, an outdoor patio decorated and outdoor athletic fields. Though Cahillane said he had been hoping for multiple fields, it will be one field suited for Gaelic football, rugby and youth soccer. Talks with the Log Cabin to take care of food and concessions have been in the mix, as well, Cahillane said.
Cahillane also announced plans to incorporate a walking trail throughout the property, which will stretch for a mile and a half or two miles.
“It would accentuate the wetlands and be an asset for the community,” he said.
Both Cahillane and Sullivan stressed the partnership between the two sides has been key in setting plans in motion, and while West Springfield will be home to the new Irish Cultural Center, it will benefit well beyond city limits.
“It’s going to be a great benefit not only to West Springfield but to the whole region,” Sullivan said. “This is going to be an attraction for not only the Irish community but it’s also going to allow use of the fields for West Springfield, the walking trail once we get that up and running and quite frankly the big room upstairs, folks will be able to rent it out and stage parties.”
Sullivan said West Springfield is “limited” in large spaces to rent out for events and the Irish Cultural Center will be able to host about 260 people.
The transformation also brings life back to a building that had been vacant.
“It’s going to be a great location, but it’s going to be like a destination location,” Sullivan said. “We’re looking forward to people coming in and utilizing the facility, but then again allowing West Springfield residents the use of it also … It’s really exciting to see what this might come to be.”
Cahillane said the “synergy” between the Irish Cultural Center and West Springfield has helped propel this project forward. While the relationship between the center and the Elms has been strong, becoming a freestanding facility will allow it to grow.
“The Elms has been great. We’ve had an affiliation with the Elms since we started. We still do, and we will continue to have that, but we’re now picking up the affiliations with Gaelic football, Greater Springfield rugby, the West Springfield parade committee,” Cahillane said. “We’re looking at a couple of other colleges. As you grow and your facility is an attraction to [the region], things happen from that … It’s kind of cool. That’s what gets things up and running. You have your own place and visibility and good things happen.”
Cahillane said he is excited for this to become a reality, though the timeline is not set in stone.
“We’re not opening for Christmas. We’re hoping to be open for St. Patrick’s Day, but we’re not even sure about that,” Cahillane said. “Some of those things are out of our control.”
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