About Beaver Island Irish Heritage Group
(BIIHG)
Beaver Island Irish Heritage Group exists to celebrate, preserve, and share the Irish heritage of Beaver Island—through culture, community gatherings, education, and year-round connection. What began in 2019 as a small committee of the Beaver Island Chamber of Commerce formed to host a single Irish festival has grown into a fully functioning 501(c)(3) nonprofit with year-round programming, a dedicated board, staff support, and a growing role as a cultural steward for the island.
Our mission is to present authentic and varied educational activities to recognize, showcase, and preserve Beaver Island’s unique Irish heritage, including its connection to Arranmore Island, County Donegal, Ireland.
Board Members
Paul Cole, Chairperson
Angel LeFevre Welke, Vice Chairperson
Shannon McDonough, Treasurer
Marlaina Cole, Secretary
Tory Fingerle
Catherine Meintsma
Bailey McDonough
Linda Wearn
Barry McDonough
Brian Williams
Staff Members
Kathleen McNamara, Executive Director, Festival Coordinator
Katie Johnson, Bookkeeper
Chris Sorensen, Administrative Assistant
AnnualReports
BIIHG Strategic Plan 2026
View or Download the Strategic Plan
BIIHG Annual Report 2025
View or Download the Annual Report
Beaver Island Irish Heritage Group
Board Member Application/Questionnaire
Please fill out the our questionnaire or download the pdf version
Application/Questionnaire is available here
Arranmore, County Donegal, Ireland
Beaver Island’s Irish roots are deeply connected to Arranmore (Árainn Mhór), County Donegal. This connection traces back to the Great Hunger in Ireland, when Irish families left home in search of safety and a chance to survive. Many made a long journey across the Atlantic that eventually brought them to the Great Lakes region of the United States, where they put down roots and started over.
Our Island's Irish heritage
In the late 1850s, Irish fishermen began arriving on Beaver Island and establishing households, including many immigrants from County Donegal alongside Irish families coming from other Great Lakes communities. With Father Peter Gallagher’s arrival as parish priest in 1865, Irish Catholic life consolidated around the church, and the Irish presence expanded quickly through the 1860s–1880s. By 1880, the census reflected a strongly Irish community—surnames like Gallagher, Boyle, and O’Donnell were common, and Gaelic was widely spoken, including in church. This era also marked the height of Irish commercial fishing success, as Beaver Island became a major Great Lakes fishing center by the mid-1880s.
That prosperity didn’t last. Beginning in 1886, declining fish stocks put increasing strain on the fishing-based economy, and new state restrictions in 1897–1898 sparked a highly public confrontation remembered as the “Battle of the Beavers,” emblematic of the islanders’ fierce independence. Father Gallagher’s death in 1898 closed a defining chapter in Irish Catholic leadership, and over the early-to-mid 1900s economic pressures fueled steady outmigration. In the 1940s, the collapse of key fisheries—worsened by lamprey—accelerated population decline and reshaped island life. Since the late 1970s, however, tourism and renewed interest in Beaver Island and its Irish history have helped sustain the community and created new opportunities to celebrate and preserve its Irish heritage
What Is Beaver Island
Beaver Island is a small, remote Lake Michigan community where “island time” is real: quiet roads, big water views, and a daily rhythm shaped by weather, seasons, and the harbor village of St. James. It’s the largest island in Lake Michigan, with a year-round population around 600, but it swells in the warmer months as visitors arrive for beaches, biking, hiking, and boating.
That modern, outdoorsy feel sits alongside a living Irish identity. A significant share of residents and families trace Irish roots, and the island is still widely known as “America’s Emerald Isle.” Today the connection shows up in community storytelling, music and cultural programming, and events like our Emerald Isle Irish Féile, which was launched in 2019 to recognize and preserve Beaver Island’s unique Irish heritage, explicitly including its ongoing relationship with Arranmore Island, County Donegal.
More Information
About Beaver Island
