Prepare to get spiffy this weekend! The 104th annual Mayo Ball is coming to town. All the Mayos—and they are a fun group of people—wlll be dancing to the Noel Henry Irish Show Band in the ballroom of the Philadelphia Irish Center on Saturday night. You don’t have to be from Mayo to attend (I know—they invited me) and they’re a very hospitable bunch.
It’s total immersion time in Jamison again—the Gaeltacht Weekend during which very little English is spoken. That kicks off on Friday night and goes through Sunday.
There are workshops on Saturday featuring (Pat) Egan, (Laura) Egan, and (Jim) Eagan who are performing on Friday night at the Irish Center, singing many of the songs written by local tunesmith Ed Reavy.
On Sunday, the Irish Club of Delaware County holds its monthly meeting at the Irish Immigration Center in Upper Darby.
And St. Thomas Church in Whitemarsh is holding a Celtic worship service starting at 5:30 Sunday night.
Also on Sunday night: The Swell Season at the Merriam Theater in Philadelphia. That’s Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, Oscar winners for “Falling Slowly,” a song from the movie, “Once.” In which they starred. This is their second visit to the area.
On Tuesday, look for a visit from Irish Consul General Niall Burgess to the Irish Immigration Center and the kick-off of a survey aimed at assessing the needs of the local Irish community. We’ll have more about that for you later.
On Friday, AOL and LAOH Div 22 are holding their annual awards dinner honoring Municpal Court Judge Patrick Dugan, retired fireman and past president of Div. 22 Thomas Meehan (Hibernian of the year), LAOH Div 22 President Maureen Daly (Hibernian of the year) and, as Irishman of the Year, Michael Callahan, president of the Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Observance Association (way to go, Michael!).
Also on Friday, the Catholic Leadership Institute of Exton will present its 2009 Award for Outstanding Catholic Leadership to Irish-born Sister Briege McKenna, OSC, and three other Catholic leaders at a reception and dinner at the Drexelbrook in Drexel Hill. Sister Briege, who entered the Sisters of St. Clare at the age of 15 was crippled by arthritis and then miraculously healed during a Eucharistic celebration. She supports the priesthood by hosting healing and support retreats. The other honorees are Barbara Henkels, national Catholic philanthropist and advocate for Catholic education; Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, the Archibishop of Galveston-Houston and Jim Nicholson, former Vatican ambassador.
But check out our calendar. Did you know that in any given week you could learn to speak Irish, pick up a few authentic set dance steps, get Irish guitar, tin whistle, or flute lessons, hear live traditional Irish music every night of the week, and tune into four radio shows playing Celtic tunes? If you can’t be Irish in this town, you can’t be Irish anywhere.
So get out there and be Irish!
