Thank You to the 2026 MCIF Presenting Sponsor
Feldman Automotive Group

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We are delighted to announce that Bill Lynch has been named the MCIF 2026 Co-Chair.

Bill has been a longtime supporter of the Motor City Irish Fest and has donated countless hours of his time working with our marketing team creating fliers, posters, post cards promotional and advertising material for print and social media. Bill has also served as an Emcee and has appeared as “Liam The Extra Large Leprechaun” at the MCIF and other fundraising events. Bill is selfless with his time and talent and the Motor City Irish Fest is lucky to have him on our team! THANK YOU Bill for all that you do for the MCIF. Congratulations!

Biography of Bill Lynch – Bill Lynch was born in Rockville Center, New York and lived in the first “planned community” of Levittown on Long Island. Before he was one year old, his family moved to Seattle Washington, but after the death of his father, Bill’s mom moved back to Lansing, Michigan to be closer to family. Bill was 20 months old at the time.

Bill’s grandparents all had roots in County Cork Ireland. His dad’s parents were 1^st generation Irish Americans who settled in Montana, but moved to Pontiac for work during the depression. His grandparents on his mother’s side (the Crotty’s) were 2^nd generation immigrants from County Kildare. They moved from Detroit to Lansing during the depression, but Bill’s great grandfather had been a Fire Battalion Chief with the Detroit Fire Department and his great uncle the Fire Marshall for Detroit at the turn of the 19^th Century.

Both of the Lynch grandparents were accomplished musicians. Bill’s grandfather, Michael Lynch, played button accordion and bones, and his grandmother, Margaret (Kelly) Lynch taught piano lessons out of their small home in Pontiac. They didn’t perform as musicians publicly, but there was always music in their home.

Bill graduated from Lansing Catholic Central in 1974. In 1976, at age 20, Bill bought a small hometown bakery in Lowell, MI. It was in that same year Bill met his wife Audie and married her as quickly as he could later that year! In November they will celebrate their 50^th wedding anniversary. They have two daughters, Meagan Andres and Maureen Lynch.

Bill sold his bakery the next year and went on to manage several different in-store bakeries, workingfor both the Meijer chain and a couple of Spartan Stores. In 1986, Bill left the private sector and went to work for the Michigan Department of Correction in Food Services of one of the Ionia Prisons. After ten years in the kitchen, Bill became a Trades Instructor for the inmates and a staff instructor to both custody and non custody staff in the Ionia Complex. He taught the staff self-defense, CPR, first aid and a variety of other subjects. Bill retired in 2012 after 25 years, (and 6 minutes,) of Service with the State.

It was Bill’s daughter Meagan who opened an Irish gift shop in Grand Rapids, called “Lynch’s Lair” in 2004 and where “Liam the Extra-Large Leprechaun” was born as the store’s mascot! By 2006, Liam began making appearances at festivals. His first major break was when the Kalamazoo Irish Fest asked him if he could introduce one of the acts. It took one appearance on stage to “hook” Liam’s love of the festival business. He went on to hold a concert series in Ionia, worked at another 15 or so other major events annually and became active in the Motor City Irish Fest, (having attended as Liam at the very first one at the old AOH hall).

Bill’s hobbies have always been graphic arts and photography, and those skills came in handy when he started the website m-i-irish.com. For over 22 years that website, and Bill have promoted “the music, the dance and the culture of the Irish and Celts in Michigan.”

He has assisted many musicians to be “discovered” and worked with almost all of the Irish and Scottish Dance schools in Michigan. In 2010, the Milwaukee Irish Fest asked “Liam” to host their new “Leprechaun Village”, which he happily did until his retirement there in 2024. Bill hung up his Leprechaun hat last fall, but still dusts it off for fundraising events and dance school performances when asked!