Dancer Moira Cahill of the Coyle School. She’ s also the reigning Philadelphia Mary from Dungloe.
There were so many Irish dancers–representing most if not all of the dance schools in the Philadelphia region–that they didn’t fit in the area beneath the stage at the Irish Festival on Penn’s Landing on Sunday. So, some of them did their big number on the stairways that lead up through the ampitheater seating which was packed with festival goers.
It was all for Jane Richard. The 7-year-old Irish dancer from Massachusetts captured the hearts of Irish dancers everywhere. Jane’s brother, Martin, was killed in the Boston Marathon bombing in April. Her parents were also injured and Jane lost her leg. A local fund has been set up to collect money for the Richard family. The specially designed “Philadelphia Loves Boston” t-shirts that all the dancers were wearing on Sunday–and which were moving off the sale table faster than the hot dogs and beer–have been making a sizeable contribution to the fund.
We caught some of the action at the Sunday afternoon event, which followed a Mass and flag-raising ceremony at the Irish Memorial. Here are just some of the photos we took.
And a neat little video below.
