You might run into these guys from Irish Thunder in Wildwood.
Oh, do we have a weekend for you.
First of all, we’re still raising funds to help keep the Philadelphia Irish Center doors open. You can help (and have a lot of fun doing it) by trying your hand at Quizzo tonight at the Irish Center, starting at 7:30. $10 a person, teams of six. Games, prizes and tunes. We’ve mentioned it before (and it’s been on our calendar since forever), so consider this last call.
(Hey, and if you can’t be there, you can still help with a donation. Visit our fund-raising site: http://www.gofundme.com/save-the-irish-center.
Next up, we know you love the shore, and frankly, it’s probably not going to be 90 degrees and humid again for a long while, but on the other hand, we don’t have four feet of snow on the ground yet, either.
My point: Get to the shore while the getting is good. And here’s where you should go this weekend, specifically: North Wildwood. It’s the weekend of one of the biggest honkin’ Irish festivals on the East Coast, if not anywhere.
The North Wildwood Festival actually started yesterday, but it really begins to hit its stride tonight, and on into the weekend.
You have a pretty nice weekend for it, too. Mid- to high-70s Saturday and Sunday, partly sunny.
If you’ve never been, steel yourself. The North Wildwood Irish Festival is an endurance test. How early than you get up? How late can you stay up? Because there is always something going on along Olde New Jersey Avenue, with vendors from 8 a.m. to 7p.m., and that includes some really incredible food. (We’re a sucker for the fresh-made, right-on-the-spot curly fries.)
There’s music everywhere along the avenue, much of it free, including bands like the Birmingham 6, Ballina, the Broken Shillelaghs, singer Timmy Kelly (ask him to sing “McNamara’s Band” … it’s a crowd pleaser), and our own 12-year-old fiddle phenom Haley Richardson.
There’s no dearth of pubs in North Wildwood an thereabouts, and a lot of them have non-stop music. Among the best known: Blackthorn, at La Costa Lounge on 4000 Landis Avenue in nearby Sea Isle. Talk about your crowd-pleasers.
Saturday morning, there’s a 5K starting at 8 a.m. Registration is between 1st and 2nd on Olde New Jersey Avenue.
If you don’t want to exert yourself, watch the Brian Riley Pipe Band Exhibition starting at 10 a.m. at 8th and Central.
BIG parade Sunday, starting at 12:30 at 20th and Surf, with the bands making their way up to Spruce and Olde New Jersey Avenue.
Details here:
http://www.cmcaoh.com/pdf/iff/2014/daily_events.pdf
The festivals don’t end there. One of the biggest highland games and festivals on the Coast—the Celtic Classic—starts September 26 in Bethlehem. You owe it to yourself to go. It really is one of the best.
Enough with the festivals, already.
If you’re a fan of Gaelic Athletics—and you really should be—you can catch the live televised Donegal vs. Kerry All-Ireland Finals at the Irish Center Sunday morning, starting at 8:15. Pretty safe bet there will be a few folks from Donegal on hand. As in, dozens.
A quick look ahead to next Saturday: It’s the Norwood Community Day and Irish Festival with Blackthorn. Norwood Borough Lower Park. Music from 10 to 8:30, with Blackthorn closing out the day.
Please check our fabulous calendar every waking hour so you don’t miss anything!
