Annual Finn Fest is Back in Island Park

The annual Island Park music and comedy festival dubbed "Finn Fest" is back for its 11th year this Saturday, July 30, following a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic. Set at Masone Beach, 15 bands are scheduled to take over two stages for an entire day filled with music, as well as comedy acts, food vendors and more.

The Finn Fest is put on by the Dorothy Finn Foundation, a family-owned foundation created to honor the memory of Dorothy Finn, a Long Beach resident for 45 years, who volunteered her time to the community by teaching children to dance and taking care of dogs and cats at the Humane Society.

The foundation continues her legacy by donating proceeds from the Finn Fest to non-profit animal rescues in the community, such as Island Park based Ruff House Rescue, who will also be hosting an adoption event at the festival this year.

“It always depends on who is in need that moment, but we first hit up the locals,” said Norah Kelleher, daughter of Dorothy Finn and the creator of Finn Fest. Kelleher said that with the money raised from the festival, the foundation has been able to donate to several local animal shelters, purchase art supplies and musical instruments for children and even had donated to aid other communities when natural disasters hit.

In the past years, the festival has been attended by over 1,000 people of all ages. The music genres range from tribute bands playing Reggae to original Rock acts, including featured performances from Half Step, Oogee Wawa, 45 RPM, Bunktown Falls, Mean Machine, Tuned Up, Shattered, Tri-State Ale House, The John Fogerty Tribute Project, Bonzer, Ralph Paladino Band, Breakaway, Contra Band, The Dave Kellan Band and Bon Noir.

For comedians, there are seven local acts set to fill the comedy tent with jokes and laughter. These include Mike Keegan, Laz Rivera, Carla Oakerson, Steve Schlesinger, Tim Saliani, John Butera and Dave Heyman.

Kelleher said the idea started when she had wanted to find a way to honor her mom’s charitable spirit, while combining her own dream of always wanting to run her own music festival.

The very first Finn Fest didn’t go to plan, as Kelleher had put it, it was the perfect spot but the wrong time of year. All of the money Dorothy Finn had left to Kelleher was put into the first festival and lost, but that didn’t discourage her.

“It was all about trying to raise the money, it was going to go to a charity anyway. I don’t like to lose so I figured let’s do it again and win,” said Kelleher. “I decided to scale it down, put it in my own backyard and grow it up from there, and that’s where we’re at now.”

The first few festivals were held in Kelleher’s backyard, where she worked hard to grow it up to where it is now, on a beach venue, where bands from all over come to perform, including Grammy-awarded bands that performed at the last Finn Fest in 2019.

“It’s really cool that people know about it,” said Kelleher. “It’s going to be a great day at the beach. There will be food and a nice breeze and a lot of fun.” Kelleher had also said she thinks her mom would have been very proud of where the festival is at now.

Finn Fest will have its very own bus circling the surrounding areas to bring passengers to the festival, including stops at the Island Park LIRR. The bus schedule and other information can be viewed at finnfestlb.com

General admission is $25 tickets can be purchased online at www.tinyurl.com/finnfest.