On Friday, February 26, Irish Consul General Barbara Jones will present three awards to some of the leading lights in the Irish community at the annual Ambassador’s Awards Luncheon sponsored by the Irish American Business Chamber and Network.
The Taoiseach Award for business leadership finally goes to William McLaughlin and his wife and partner, Natalie, of McLaughlin & Morgan, a Philadelphia based business development company with a particular interest in helping American companies do business in Ireland and Irish companies enter the US market. McLaughlin is also the founder of the IABCN. Read our profile of him here.
The Uachtaran Award will be given to Msgr. Michael Doyle, pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Camden who, among other things, established a nonprofit community development organization that has renovated homes in the waterfront area and transformed an abandoned movie theater into a gym and community center.
The Ambassador’s Award will be presented to the Almac Group , a company founded in Northern Ireland specializing in drug development and diagnostics. Almac’s North American headquarters is in Souderton, and it employs more than 3,000 people worldwide.
The ceremonies will be held at the Union League following a luncheon.
Of course, there’s music all week long. On Saturday, No Irish Need Apply will be performing at Paddy Whacks Irish Sports Bar on Roosevelt Boulevard and Welsh Road in Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon. The same evening you can see Jamison raising money for the St. James Regional School at The Doghouse in Eddystone and Oliver McElhone will be on stage at The Dubliner on the Delaware.
The ninth annual James Gillespie Jr. Memorial Benefit, which raises money for students in the Catholic Partnership Schools Basketball Program to attend Catholic high school, will be held Saturday from 2 to 6 Pm at PJ Whelihans in Cherry Hill.
Slainte—Frank Daly and CJ Mills of Jamison—are performing at Fluke’s on State Road in Philadelphia on Thursday. Catch Jamison again this week on Friday. They’ll be playing for all those fools—God bless ‘em–who leap into the freezing Atlantic for charity in North Wildwood every year. They’ll be warm, inside at Keenan’s Irish Pub.
On Friday night, John Byrne is taking the stage at The Dubliner on the Delaware in New Hope, the “it” place to hear Irish music these days. Seamus Kelleher will be headlining there on Saturday night.
Also coming up: the first and biggest fundraiser for the Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Parade, with a great lineup of music and entertainment, on February 28 starting at 3 PM at the FOP Hall on Caroline Road in Philadelphia. Blackthorn is also launching its series of happy hours at Tom n’ Jerry’s Sports Bar in Folsom.
And the Philadelphia Ceili Group has a real treat in store for Saturday, February 27: The Crooked Road, a musical and poetic journey through Irish history leading up to the 1916 Rising, the Easter rebellion celebrating its centenary this year. Diarmud Johnson, a poet, musician, and Gaelic scholar, will perform this one-man show.
