Honorable Mayor Nash and Council Members.
As GALWAY, IRELAND 🇮🇪 is MENLO PARK’S SISTER CITY, it’s appropriate to pause for a moment to wish you a very happy and healthy St. Patrick’s Day.
As it turns out Galway’s mayor is currently nearby while visiting Seattle, Washington, another one of their sister cities. While in the USA, will you be inviting him to visit MENLO PARK?
Best, Jim Lewis
former co-chair Two Menlos.
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Mayor of the City of Galway, Cllr Mike Cubbard was welcomed to Seattle, Washington, this week, as part of celebrations to mark St Patrick’s Day and forty years of the Galway-Seattle Sister City relationship.
While St. Patrick’s Day is always a special celebration for Irish communities worldwide, this year’s celebrations in Seattle also mark four decades of positive political, cultural, educational and economic exchange between the two cities. Galway and Seattle formalised their Sister Cities connection in 1986.
Mayor of the City of Galway, Cllr Mike Cubbard, said, “Forty years ago, Galway and Seattle were very different places. Ireland was only beginning to open itself to the world, and Seattle was on the cusp of becoming the global hub of technology, aviation, and culture that it is today. Yet even then, leaders on both sides of the Atlantic saw something in each other a spark of shared spirit, creativity, and ambition. Galway, perched on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean, and Seattle, looking out onto the Pacific, are both shaped by the sea by openness, by curiosity, and by the sense that the horizon is not a limit but an invitation. Our cities have grown together in remarkable ways. Tourism, education, and culture have intertwined to create two places that are outward looking, confident, and proud of their heritage. What has endured and what we celebrate today is the belief that international relationships matter. That cities can learn from one another. That people to people connections are the foundation of peace, prosperity, and cultural richness.”
Leonard Cleary, Chief Executive, Galway City Council, said, “As Galway and Seattle mark 40 years of friendship as Sister Cities, we also look forward. Galway and Seattle share strengths in technology, the arts, marine science, education, and tourism. We share a love of festivals, of innovation, of community. And we share a belief that the best way to honour the past is to build an even stronger future. From the shores of Galway Bay to the waters of Puget Sound, may our connection continue to thrive.”
As part of the visit, on a snowy Friday 13 March, Mayor of the City of Galway, Cllr Mike Cubbard; Seattle City Councilmember Bob Kettle, Grand Marshal, St. Patrick’s Day Parade 2026; Vice Consul General Naoise Kenny, Consulate General of Ireland, San Francisco; and the Galway City Council delegation joined a ceremony at Pier 69 to raise the Irish and American flags in honour of St. Patrick’s Day.
Mayor Cubbard also participated in the Irish Heritage Club of Seattle ‘Laying of the Green Stripe’, where a vibrant green stipe of paint is laid to mark the route of the Seattle St Patrick’s Day Parade.
The delegation also met with Mayor of Seattle, Katie Wilson; University of Washington Vice Provost for Global Affairs Ahmad M. Ezzeddine; start-ups in Maritime Blue, a strategic alliance dedicated to accelerating innovation in the Blue Economy; the Matt Talbot Centre, a recovery treatment centre for people experiencing substance use, mental health challenges and homelessness; businesses at Seattle’s Enterprise Ireland/ Irish Network Seattle event; representatives of Amazon, in The Spheres; and visited the Seattle Fish Market.
The Galway City Seattle visit overlapped with Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon TD’s, engagements in Seattle, San Francisco and Sacramento highlighting Ireland’s place in the world as a small, open, trading economy.
