Thursday, November 20th, 2025
Reception begins: 5:30pm
Programming begins: 7:00pm
The Maine Irish Heritage Center proudly announces the return of the Claddagh Awards, a cherished tradition honoring the Irish values of friendship, loyalty, and community. Each year, the award is presented to a distinguished individual in Maine whose life of service strengthens our communities and inspires others through their leadership and commitment.
This year, we are honored to present the 2025 Claddagh Award to Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, in recognition of her decades of dedicated public service to Maine. The award will be presented by Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason, Ireland’s 19th Ambassador to the United States, who will be making an official visit to Maine.
The evening will also include the presentation of the Halla Cairde Award to Will Woodson and Cait Finley, recognizing their enduring contributions to our community.
General Admission tickets are priced at $100, and there are ticket sponsorships available for $250 and $500! Members of the Maine Irish Heritage Center may purchase tickets at a $50 discounted price with an exclusive code! For ticketing questions or to obtain your member discount code, please reach out to
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Evening Program
5:30 – 6:30 PM | Reception in the Great Hall
Enjoy a glass of bubbly and conversation in the Great Hall. Surrounded by gorgeous architecture, stained glass, and the beautiful music of Maine’s premier Celtic Folk duo, Castlebay!
6:00 PM | Bell Ringing & Signage Ribbon Cutting
Guests are invited to gather as the bell rings out across Portland in honor of our Claddagh Recipient. Weather permitting, we’ll celebrate outside with a ribbon-cutting ceremony unveiling our new signage.
6:00 – 7:00 PM | Food & Bar Open in the Downstairs Function Room
A festive hour of food, drinks, and community. Complete with music from our incredible Halla Cairde inductees, Will Woodson and Cait Finley!
7:00 – 8:00 PM | Awards & Speeches
8:00 – 9:00 PM | Social Hour
An opportunity to reconnect, celebrate, and enjoy community in the spirit of the Claddagh.
2025 Claddagh Award Recipient: Chellie Pingree
Chellie Pingree never anticipated a life in politics. Living on the offshore island of North Haven, Maine, she raised her kids and ran a small business. She served on the school board and as the local tax assessor, a job no one else in town wanted. But in 1991, when she was approached about running for State Senate, she jumped at the chance.
She scored a remarkable upset, defeating a popular Republican, and went on to serve four terms in the Maine Senate. But throughout her political career, from Augusta to Washington and beyond, the lessons she learned on North Haven have always been her guide: Be accountable to your neighbors, and always use your common sense.
Chellie Johnson (she has legally changed her name from "Rochelle") was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1955, the youngest of four children. Her father, Harry, worked in advertising and her mother, Dorothy, was a nurse. Chellie moved to Maine as a teenager, attended the University of Southern Maine, and graduated from the College of the Atlantic, in Bar Harbor. After college, she moved to North Haven, an island town of 350 people twelve miles off the coast of Rockland, to raise her family and make a living.
In 2008, Chellie was elected to Congress from Maine’s 1st Congressional District—the first woman elected to Congress from that District. She has previously served on the House Rules Committee and Armed Services Committee. She currently sits on the powerful House Appropriations Committee, chairing the Subcommittee on Interior and the Environment, the Subcommittee on Agriculture, and Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs. She also sits on the House Agriculture Committee.
Among other issues important to Mainers, Chellie has been an advocate in Congress for reforming federal policy to better support the diverse range of American agriculture—including sustainable, organic, and locally focused farming—as well as to reduce food waste. Many provisions from comprehensive legislation she introduced to make these reforms were passed in both the 2014 and 2018 Farm Bills. She received a 2017 James Beard Leadership Award for her national leadership in food system reform.
Chellie has also been recognized for her leadership on a number of other issues, including assisting survivors of military sexual trauma, strengthening the creative and arts economy, and helping coastal communities address threats to their future.
Chellie has three grown children—Asa, Cecily, and Hannah, former Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives.
Learn More about Chellie Pingree here:
https://pingree.house.gov/
Claddagh Award Presenter: Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason, Ireland’s 19th Ambassador to the United States
Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason assumed her role as Ireland’s 19th Ambassador to the United States in August 2022. Ambassador Byrne Nason was previously Permanent Representative of Ireland to the United Nations in New York (2017- 22). Previously, she served as Ambassador to France (2014-17), Second Secretary General in the Department of the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) (2011-14), Ambassador and Ireland’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the EU (2005-11)), and Director of the National Forum on Europe (2004-05).
During her career, Ambassador Byrne Nason has served in Brussels, New York, Paris, Vienna and Helsinki. As Second Secretary-General in the Department of the Taoiseach from 2011-2014, she was the highest ranking female public servant in Ireland. During that period, she also was Secretary General of Ireland’s Economic Management Council.
On her arrival in New York, Ambassador Byrne Nason led Ireland’s successful campaign for a seat on the United Nations Security Council, and led the New York Security Council team for the 2021-2022 term. Ambassador Byrne Nason was Chair of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) for 2018 and 2019. She has also co-chaired high-level political negotiations on the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Nelson Mandela and on the ‘Samoa pathway’ for Small Island Developing States.
A native of County Louth, in 2020 Ambassador Byrne Nason was awarded the Freedom of Drogheda, the town’s highest honour and was the third woman to receive the award of its 35 recipients. In 2014, Ambassador Byrne Nason was elected a Member of the Royal Irish Academy, Ireland’s highest academic honour. Ambassador Byrne Nason holds an Honorary Doctorate of Law from Maynooth University as well as Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in Literature from Saint Patrick’s College in Maynooth (NUIM).
2025 Halla Cairde Inductees: Will Woodson and Cait Finley
Will Woodson (flute, uilleann pipes) and Cait Finley (fiddle) play sparky and driving traditional Irish music that’s grounded in the textures and rhythms of the rich Irish-American soundscape of the 1920s and 30s. With roots in the living Irish musical cultures of Boston, New York City, and Philadelphia, and a tremendous admiration for the first generation of recorded Irish musicians, the duo conjures up the sounds of the dance halls, vaudeville theaters, and house sessions central to Irish-American music from the first half of the twentieth century. In 2019, the two recorded their debut album, “The Glory Reel” alongside box player and piano accompanist Chris “Junior” Stevens, which Dan Neely of the Irish Echo called “a fabulous album from three of Irish America’s finest.” During the pandemic years, the two made “The Phonograph Project”, a Patreon-supported series examining 78 recordings of traditional Irish music made in New York City in the 1920s and 30s. More recently, they’ve made musical appearances at the St. Louis Tionól, the Patrick J. Touhey Memorial Weekend in Boston and the Ward Archives “Archiving Irish America” conference in Milwaukee. Cait and Will live in Portland, Maine, and host a regular weekly session at The Continental that starts at 8 pm on Sundays. You can find them online at woodsonfinley.com.
Past Claddagh Award Recipients
2019 – George Campbell, Jr.
2018 – David T. Flanagan
2017 – Senator Susan Collins
2016 – Michael Connolly
2015 – Jim Wellehan
2014 – Sara J. Burns
2013 – Moira Hastings Fuller
2012 – Senator George J. Mitchell
2011 – William J. Ryan
2010 – Cynthia Murray Beliveau
2009 – Gerard P. Conley, Sr.
2008 – Governor Joseph E. Brennan
Learn more about past claddagh winners here:
https://maineirish.com/videos/
About Castlebay:
Julia Lane & Fred Gosbee have been exploring and transcribing archives of music collected in Maine in the early 20th century. Collectors ranged throughout the state gathering hundreds of traditional songs, many of which are from Ireland, brought by the people emigrating and settling here and working on the coast, in the woods, farms, and factories. Field recordings and journals document over 1,000 songs, from which the duo have selected and arranged music for performance.
In addition to singing these versions of old Irish music, Castlebay shares the lore and history of this potent musical legacy, which embodies stories of romance and rogues, shipwreck and survival, as well as a good dose of humor and blarney. The duo has transcribed many of these songs, "mending" them, and publishing a series titled Bygone Ballads of Maine. Volume 1, Songs of Ships and Sailors, was presented by Loomis House Press in 2021 and is available in local bookstores as well as online. Castlebay has recorded two albums of these songs, Bound Away and The Maid on the Shore, which are available from their website. A subsequent volume and recording of Maine’s Irish songs is in process.
For over 30 years, Castlebay has toured the eastern US, Scotland, England, and Ireland, being appreciated at arts centers, folk clubs, festivals, schools, and on radio and television. They have released over two dozen recordings, and their music has been used on numerous video soundtracks. More information is available at their website: www.castlebay.net
Thank you to our Sponsors!
Library Sponsor: Patricia McDonough Dunn
Interested in becoming a sponsor for this event? Please reach out to
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