A Screaming Orphan, screaming.
Expect cancellations and delays this week—and possibly through Spring this year—as you attempt to be Irish. Here’s what our calendar says it’s going on, but be sure to call ahead to see if an event is still on:
One event that’s definitely on—the annual Midwinter Scottish and Irish Festival at The Valley Forge Convention Center. An incredible lineup of acts—and, for those of us who are winter weary, whiskey tasting classes—will make you forget that you just shoveled two tons of snow in five days and boy are your arms tired. Here’s the lineup—print it out and plan accordingly.
Friday night:
8:00 – 8:30 Angus and Didgeridrew
8:45 – 9:45 The John Byrne Band
10:00 – 11:00 Jamison
11:15 – 11:59 Albannach
Saturday
STAGE ONE
10:00 – 10:30 The MacLeod Fiddlers
10:35 – 11:00 Cummins Irish Dancers
11:15 – 12:00 The Bogside Rogues
12:15 – 1:00 Albannach
1:15 – 2:15 Brother
2:30 – 3:30 McLean Avenue Band
3:45 – 4:45 Mick McAuley and Winifred Horan
5:00 – 6:15 Screaming Orphans
6:30 – 7:30 Rathkeltair
7:45 – 8:45 Brother
9:00 – 9:45 Albannach
10:00 – 11:00 Hadrian’s Wall
11:15 – 11:59 Neil Anderson leads the Band Jam
STAGE TWO
11:15 – 11:30 Campbell Highland Dancers
11:45 – 12:30 Colleen SearsonL
12:45 – 1:30 The Brigadoons
1:45 – 2:30 Rathkeltair
2:45 – 3:30 Hadrian’s Wall
3:45 – 4:15 The MacLeod Fiddlers
4:30 – 5:30 The Bogside Rogues
5:45 – 6:30 The John Byrne Band
6:45 – 7:30 The Brigadoons
7:45 – 8:30 McLean Avenue Band
Seminars and Whiskey Tasting
12:00 – 12:45 Irish Language Workshop
with Casey O’Connor
1:00 – 1:45 Scots Gaelic Workshop with John Grimaldi
2:00 – 2:45 What the Heck is a Bagpipe?
with Kent Wires
3:00 – 4:00 Whiskey Tasting (21 & up)
with Frank McDonald
UPSTAIRS
Casino Food Court
12:00 – 1:00 Olive McElhone and Frank Reed
1:15 – 2:00 Colleen Searson
2:15 – 3:30 Oliver McElhone and Frank Reed
THE WATERFORD BALLROOM
12:00 – 1:15 Scottish Step Dance Class
with Lynnette Brash
1:30 – 2:30 Ceili Dancing
with Rosemarie Timoney
2:45 – 4:30 Bagpipe and Highland and Irish Dance Tattoo
Featuring: The Washington Memorial Pipers,
Campbell Highland & Cummins Dancers
Trousers, a play by Paul Meade and David Parell about two Dubliners reminiscing about their summer in New York, continues this week at the Off Broad Street Theatre at First Baptist Church in Philadelphia, an Inis Nua Theatre Company production.
The 2014 CRN-USA North American Open Irish Dance Championships will be jigging and reeling at the Newark Liberty International Marriott Hotel in Newark.
On Monday, Donal Clancy, son of the late Liam Clancy of the Clancy Brothers, will be performing tunes from his new CD, “Songs of a Roving Blade,” at the Coateville Cultural Center.
On Thursday, Irish Ambassador Anne Anderson will present the Ambassador’s Award to the SAP company at the Hyatt at the Bellevue, an annual event sponsored by the Irish American Business Chamber and Network. The Taoiseach Award will go to Denis P. O’Brien, senior executive vice president of Exelon, and the Uachtaran Award will go to Ann Claffey Baiada, RRN, director of Bayada Home Health Care.
Ambassador Anderson will also meet with Neumann University students to discuss the Irish economy and fields that might provide promising career opportunities before the luncheon at Neumann, which is in Aston.
Then, on Friday, the fundraiser you wait all year for (well, I do, at least), the Delco Gaels “Dancing Like a Star” show in which 16 non-dancers dance their way to the trophy. It’s a fabulous show, the money goes to the Delco Gaels Gaelic sports program, and it sells out quickly so this is your last chance. Go to our calendar for the details on this and all of this week’s events.
