How to be Irish in Philly This Week

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The Celtic Christmas spirit continues this week.

The Delco Gaels’ Christmas party and their fundraising Nite at the Races is being held at Maggie O’Neill’s in Drexel Hill on Saturday night. They’ll also be revealing the contestants for their major fundraiser, Dancing Like a Star, which will be held in 2013.

Check out the decked halls at the Irish Center on Sunday—it’s the first ever open house at the Commodore Barry Club in Mt. Airy, the heart of the Irish community. You can catch the Sunday Irish radio shows live—right at the center. There will be music, dancing, local authors, and of course, the conviviality that lives at the center’s cozy bar.

Also on Sunday, catch the second and last Celtic Christmas at Doe Run at St. Malachi’s in Cochranville, featuring Burning Bridget Cleary.

Not Christmassy, but a fine night out nonetheless, you can hear George Donaldson of the group Celtic Thunder at The Plough and the Stars on Sunday night. He’ll be singing tunes from his debut album, The White Rose.

On Monday, the Irish Center is the venue for a seniors’ lunch, preceded by a special Advent mass said by Msgr. Joseph McLoone.

On Thursday, the Irish American Business Chamber and Network is holding its Christmas party at the Plough and the Stars in Philadelphia. Enjoy the hors d’oeuvres and the networking.

Also on Thursday, the Celtic Trio—Maggie Sansone with Sharon Knowles and Andrea Hoag—will be performing “sounds of the season” at Blue Ball Barn in Wilmington, DE on hammered dulcimer, Celtic harp, and fiddle.

On Friday, put on your dancing shoes and head back to the Irish Center for the Philadelphia Ceili Group’s annual Christmas Ceili, featuring Kevin McGillian and Friends, the region’s best ceili band.

Coming up in the next couple of weeks—Cherish the Ladies will be at Annenberg with their Christmas show, and Irish Christmas in America, with Oisin Mac Diarmada of Teada, Aaron Jones of Old Blind Dogs, and Seamus Begley from West Kerry, will be at Sellersville Theatre