| A Summer of Irish Pride  It
has been said that no one is as Irish as an Irishman overseas. Every year
St. Patrick’s Day parades across the United States bring out the
Irish in anyone who has even the measliest bit of Irish in them and draw
the Irish out of Ireland. Even those with no Irish who just want to have
a good time come out dressed in green, and celebrate in the frenzy of
leprechauns, shamrocks, beer and dancing. By the time the days are their
warmest and longest though, St. Patrick’s Day becomes a distant
memory and the summer days have the Irish itching for another good celebration.
And nothing makes for a better celebration than the contagious Irish pride.
Perhaps this is why American summer Irish festivals have become so popular.
The Buckeye State, Ohio, is teeming with Irish pride. The annual Dublin
Irish Festival in Ohio is one of the largest celebrations of Irish culture
in the country, drawing over 85,000 people each year. The abundance of
Irish music and dance, the Irish Marketplace, exhibits, storytelling,
food and games are more than enough to keep everyone entertained.
Music and dance are the heart of the Dublin Irish Festival; over the three
days six stages are continually hopping with a variety of Irish music
and performances. There is something for everyone. This year, the whistles
and fiddles and bagpipes of bands such as Old Blind Dogs and Gaelic Storm
have the crowd at the “traditional stage” tapping their feet
and imagining the rolling hills of old Ireland. At the “Celtic rock”
stage, bands like the Saw Doctors and the Prodigals bring a lively modern
rock twist on Irish music. Dancers kick and twirl their way across the
“Ceili” and “Irish Thunder” stages, and teens
have their very own “teen zone” with a DJ to dance to. Both
the Irish pub and the sports bar on the festival grounds also showcase
local bands and dancers.
The assortment of Irish imports in the Irish Marketplace and the Emerald
Arts Isle are as plentiful as the music selection. From kilts to coins
to candy to Irish coats of arms, the marketplace seems to have everything
that could be found in the shops of Ireland. In the Emerald Arts Isle,
the enchanting stained glass sprinkled with Celtic designs, beautiful
paintings and jewelry are hard to leave behind.
There is more to the Dublin Irish Festival than the leisurely shopping
and listening to music. There is also plenty to learn. History and culture
are incorporated in exhibits such as the 10th-century Irish village display,
a music exhibit featuring traditional Irish instruments, such as the harp,
bagpipes, fiddles, and Uillean pipes, and workshops on a variety of Irish
cultural activities including scone making and knitting. In the “Wee
Folk Area” children can play games, listen to music and take step-dancing
lessons.
The Dublin Irish Festival was born in 1987, the year that Dublin, Ohio
attained city status. Resident Mary Margaret McLernon took a trip to Dublin,
Ireland and discovered that it would celebrate its 1000th anniversary
as a city at the same time that Dublin, Ohio celebrated its first. “I
thought it would be great to establish a connection between the two Dublins,”
she says. McLernon formed the 1/1000 committee, which planned a variety
of events to celebrate Irish culture. Part of this plan involved moving
the annual Columbus Feis from its horsefly-ridden location at the Franklin
County Fairgrounds to Dublin.
After the feis ended on a Saturday night, most of the out-of-town dancers
and their families stayed overnight in Dublin. The crowd wanted a continuation
of the festivities on Sunday, and with the combined efforts of the 1/1000
committee and the Feis organizers, who managed to secure Coffman Park
and find last-minute food and entertainment, the first Dublin Irish Festival
was spontaneously born.
The 2006 Dublin Irish Festival will take place Friday, August 4 –
Sunday, August 6 in Dublin’s Coffman Park.
Ohio is not the only state where Irish pride ignites weekend-long celebrations.
From coast to coast people can be found merry-making the Irish way at
festivals all summer long. All festivals start with the basics: Irish
food, drink, music and dance, but each has its unique quirks and draws,
and reflects the personality of the city that hosts it.
In Wisconsin, for example, a summer school is held for a week before the
Milwaukee Irish Festival. Students attend workshops in Irish dance, music,
and crafts, Gaelic language instruction, and a historical overview of
Irish heritage, and then are able to show off their new skills and participate
in the festival at the weekend. The Milwaukee festival even has a personalized
“Milwaukee Irish Fest Song” written and composed by Tom Sweeny,
which everyone is encouraged to sing along to. This year’s Milwaukee
Irish Fest will take place August
17-20 at the Henry W. Maier Festival [Summerfest] Grounds.
In Indiana this year’s annual Indy Irish Festival in Indianapolis
will host an Irish toast contest in which competitors will create short
Irish toasts and, judged on creativity and the crowd’s applause,
have a chance to win round trip airfare for two to Ireland. The Indy Irish
festival will take place September 15 -17.
Baltimore, Maryland, Kansas City, Missouri, and Utica, New York are a
few more of the many nationwide locations that will celebrate all things
Irish this summer. Amidst all the fun and merry-making at an American
Irish summer festival one can feel a sense of camaraderie not only between
the Irish, but between all those who appreciate an Irish good time.
In Ireland too, festivals, feisheam and fleadhs abound. This year will
bring the premiere of the World Fleadh, which will take place in Ballybunion,
County Kerry, August 14-16, and promises to be Ireland’s biggest
traditional and Celtic music fleadh. Fifty thousand people are expected
to attend the three-day festivities. To accommodate such a high
volume, a village, to be known as The World Fleadh Village, will be custom
built with features such as a 1,500-seat dome and a 10,000-seat outdoor
arena. The festival will coincide with the launch of the new Tinteán
Theatre, which will host performances throughout the week. Entertainment
includes an impressive collection of world-renowned traditional and contemporary
Irish bands, including the Gypsy Kings, The Waterboys, The Sharon Shannon
Big Band, Declan O’Rourke and Kíla, as well as Irish dance
performances and competitions.
As with the American summer Irish festivals, the marvelous display of
Irish culture and good times shared are sure to spark a great wave of
Irish pride. The difference at The World Fleadh is the true Irish setting.
Daylight will linger until 10 o’clock on the cliff edge of Ballybunion,
which overlooks a magnificent stretch of beach with the sparkling Atlantic
Ocean just beyond. With this beautiful Irish scenery as a background for
performances of some of the greatest Irish music-makers and dancers, even
the natives will be inspired to take a moment to truly appreciate the
magic of the sights, sounds and people of the Emerald Isle.
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