Haley Richardson isn't shy about performing.
Saturday probably won’t be much of a beach day. The weather man predicts thunderstorms.
Looking for a way to salvage the first half of your all-too-short weekend? Head on over to the MacSwiney Club in Jenkintown, slip into your dancing shoes and create a little thunder of your own.
The Irish music and culture group Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann (just say COAL-tus for short, and you’ll be close enough) is going to pound out Irish tunes from 7 to 11 at its Summer Social Evening, and you can dance till your feet cry “uncle.” Best of all, your ten bucks will also help support three of CCE’s youngest and most talented members as they prepare to compete in the All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil (music festival) in County Cavan in August.
CCE’s Cass Tinney, who is helping to organize the night of music, dance, food and fun, says two of the kids—fiddlers Haley Richardson and Alexander Weir—will be in North Carolina at a kind of fiddle camp as a tune-up for the Fleadh, so they won’t be able to attend. Haley won for solo fiddle and Alexander, for slow airs, in the 6- to 12-year-old group at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Fleadh in Pearl River, N.Y. However, harper Emily Safko—who won solo harp in the 6-12 group—will be there to pluck out some tunes.
“We usually have our social in the spring,” says Tinney. “But every date we picked out, something else came up. So we decided to do it in the summer, and then we thought: Why not do it for the kids?”
Why not, indeed. John Shields will be spinning the tunes (do we say “spin” anymore?) and presiding over the dancing. If John Shields can’t get you off your tush, no one can. CCE will also be providing snacks, but is asking folks to bring some of their own. You can also sidle up to the bar, or teetotal along with coffee and tea.
Tinney recognizes that a summer night can hold many other attractions. And lately, the weather has been challenging. But she hopes that people won’t pass up the opportunity to help out three nice kids.
“It can be a bad time of year,” she says. “It’s ungodly hot. People are on vacation. We’re just going to hold it and hope for the best.”
The MacSwiney Club is at Greenwood Avenue and Walnut Street in Jenkintown. Come and dance, Tinney says. Or sing, if you’ve a mind to. But by all means, come out and support the future of Irish music in the Delaware Valley.
