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Organization

Beaver Island Irish Heritage Group

Also BIIHG

Draft — sources verified, prose evolving

TypeOrganization
WithinBeaver Island
ErasModern eraIrish era

Summary

The Beaver Island Irish Heritage Group (BIIHG) is a modern nonprofit heritage organization that presents activities intended to recognize, showcase, and preserve Beaver Island’s Irish heritage, including its connection with Arranmore Island, County Donegal. Its signature public program is the annual Emerald Isle Irish Féile, held each September.

Formation and mission

The group’s 2024 community announcement describes a transition from the Beaver Island Chamber of Commerce committee that organized the 2023 Féile into the Beaver Island Irish Heritage Group. It names a board, festival and administrative support, and says the new organization established accounts, policies, procedures, and committees as it developed.1 A January 2024 account places the Féile’s beginning in 2019 and describes the move toward a separate 501(c)(3) organization.2

BIIHG’s own stated mission is to present authentic and varied activities that recognize, showcase, and preserve Beaver Island’s unique Irish heritage, including its connection to Arranmore Island in County Donegal. The group describes the Emerald Isle Irish Féile as its signature annual event.1 The November 2024 retrospective reports that the organization had received federal tax-exempt status and could accept tax-deductible contributions, but the project does not hold the underlying IRS determination letter or incorporation filing.3

Relationship to older institutions

BIIHG is distinct from the Beaver Island Historical Society and Holy Cross Catholic Church. Its sources describe a heritage and festival organization, not a museum, parish, or replacement for either institution. Its work extends the older Irish settlement and the Beaver Island–Arranmore civic relationship into contemporary music, performance, family memory, and tourism.3

Evidence limits

The held sources establish the group’s public identity, mission, personnel, and festival role. start_date: "2023" is a cautious organizational marker: the sources show the transition from a Chamber committee during the 2023 Féile and the new group’s operation in 2024, but do not establish a precise incorporation or IRS-recognition date. A formal registration record remains an open source gap.

See also

Footnotes

  1. Northern Islander, June 2024, pp. 13-14, “Beaver Island Heritage Group Announcement.” ↩ ↩2

  2. Northern Islander, January 2024, pp. 23-25. ↩

  3. Northern Islander, November 2024, pp. 10-11. ↩ ↩2

Sources

  1. Kitty McNamara, "Beaver Island Heritage Group Announcement," *Northern Islander*, June 2024, pp. 13-14.
    Contemporary organizational announcement. It says the 2023 Féile was still operating as a Beaver Island Chamber of Commerce committee, describes the organization's evolution into BIIHG, names its administrative support, and gives the group's own mission statement. It does not establish an exact incorporation date.
    internet_archive · northern_islander_2024
  2. Northern Islander, January 2024, pp. 23-25.
    Earlier community account describing the Féile's 2019 start, the 2023 festival, and the transition toward a 501(c)(3) Irish heritage organization. It is evidence of the public organizational history, not a state or IRS filing.
    internet_archive · northern_islander_2024
  3. Northern Islander, November 2024, pp. 10-11.
    Post-festival organizational retrospective. It repeats BIIHG's mission, reports the group's tax-exempt status and board/support structure, and describes the 2024 Féile as a successful signature event. The newspaper account is retained as community evidence rather than treated as the legal registration record.
    internet_archive · northern_islander_2024