The smile says it all: Daniel Spahr at a past AOH Notre Dame Div. 1 Irish Festival. It's going on all weekend.
Like festivals? Have we got a weekend for you.
The Montgomery County AOH Notre Dame Div. 1 Irish Festival kicks off on Friday at St. Michael’s Picnic Grounds in Mont Clare, not far from Phoenixville. Plenty of music (Bogside Rogues, Paddy’s Well, Misty Isle, Oliver McElhone, Celtic Spirit), food, vendors, fun for the kids, and $2 beers all weekend long. Only $5 to get in and free parking to boot. And it goes on for three days, sorta like Woodstock but without Wavy Gravy.
The annual Appel Farm Arts and Music Festival happens on Saturday. Not a lot of Celtic acts (Enter the Haggis), but plenty of other great music including Patty Griffin, Buddy Miller, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings; kids events; and “Poets on the Grove” featuring some hot poetry acts like Napam de Bomb. It’s all going on in Elmer, NJ.
On Sunday, Penns Landing goes all green and shamrocky with the annual Irish Festival, with Paddy’s Well and Blackthorn headlining; 11—count them—11 Irish dance troupes, vendors galore, and food. It follows the annual 10:30 AM Mass at the Irish Memorial at Penns Landing. Mezzo soprano Jocelyn McGillian, the 2009 Rose of Tralee, will sing.
This week also kicks off some early Bloomsday (June 16) events in Philadelphia. On Sunday, when you take a break from festivalling, head to the Rosenbach Museum on Delancey Place in the city where there will be a Hands On Tour of the museum’s James Joyce collection (there’s a Ulysses’ manuscript!) and other English literature holdings, including works by Bram “Dracula” Stoker. And when they say hands on, they mean it. You get to touch!
If you’re into cramming your schedule tight, stay in town and have dinner at McGillin’s Olde Ale House on Drury Street where they’re having a black tie beef-n-beer to celebrate turning 150. The Budweiser Clydesdales—all six-feet, 2000 pounds each of them—will be there. No pony rides.
Don’t forget to tune in to WTMR 800AM on Sunday starting at 11 AM to make your pledge to the Sunday radio shows—the Vince Gallagher Irish Radio Hour and Marianne MacDonald’s “Come West Along the Road.” This is week 3 in the pledge drive and your chance to keep Irish music filling the radiowaves every Sunday morning.
Looking ahead: Brush up your Irish at an all-day Irish language immersion program at the Irish Center next Saturday. There are also classes for the curious or beginners too at Satharn na nGael, or “Gaelic Saturday.” The Philadelphia and Mid-Atlantic Rose of Tralee Centres are sponsoring an Alex’s Lemonade Stand to raise money for research into childhood cancers next Saturday at the Irish Immigration Center in Upper Darby. The Mid-Atlantic Rose of Tralee will be chosen on June 26 at a gala event at the Irish Center. Order your tickets now—they’re going fast.
Check out our calendar for times, directions, and other important details.
