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Denise Foley

Dance, Photos

“Mary and Bert” Win “Dancing Like a Star”

Mary Poppins and Bert the Chimney Sweep took top honors in the Delco Gaels’ “Dancing Like a Star” fundraiser last week.

In their real lives, the winners are really Letterkenny, County Donegal, native Brendan Bradley (as Bert), a Gaels’ coach and brother of last year’s winner Louie Bradley, Gaels’ chairman, and his dance partner, Miriam Gallagher, a pre-school teacher from Glenties, also in County Donegal. The two did a rollicking dance number to a song from the Disney movie, “Mary Poppins” that took them into the audience and, in the case of Gallagher, into the lap of someone in the audience.

More than 700 people crowded into the spacious Springfield Country Club Ballroom to watch four couples—many of whom didn’t know each other until January, when rehearsals began—perform three ballroom dances for a panel of judges and, like the TV show on which it’s based, for audience votes.

February 26, 2016 by Denise Foley

Music, News, People, Photos, Videos

On To 25 Years!

Some old favorites–Albannach, Screaming Orphans, Timlin & Kane, Searson, the Brigadoons, Jamison, the Hooligans–were back, but there were some new acts at this year’s Mid-Winter Scottish & Irish Festival. We saw Gabriel Donohue with Vonnie Quinn, the Mudmen, McLean Avenue and, while Brother wasn’t there, Angus Richardson and Drew Reid were and they joined Albannach on stage to make it Albannach Plus 2.

We sampled Scottish barbecue (pork and peat!), fish and chips, McDougall’s Irish Victory Cakes, bacon chocolate (yes, you read that right–it was good), Guinness (thanks Sean Crossan!) and, for the umpteenth year in a row, did not have haggis. (We tasted some in Bethlehem at Celtic Fest–we don’t like liver.)

February 19, 2016 by Denise Foley

News, People, Photos

Irish Consul General Visits Philadelphia

Irish Consul General from New York Barbara Jones spent a couple of days in Philadelphia meeting with local government leaders and heads of Irish organizations in the region. She was welcomed on Friday night, February 5, with a party at the Irish Center in Philadelphia attended by representatives from many of the county societies and organizations such as the Irish Immigration Center, the Irish Memorial, and the Philadelphia Rose of Tralee Centre.

Vincent Gallagher, president of the Irish Center, provided the music, and the Cummins School of Irish Dance and the Circle of Friends Irish ceili dancers, both headquartered at the Irish Center, provided the dancing.

February 19, 2016 by Denise Foley

How to Be Irish in Philly

How To Be Irish in Philly This Week

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.

February 19, 2016 by Denise Foley

How to Be Irish in Philly

How To Be Irish in Philly This Week

It’s shaping up to be bitterly cold this weekend. Wouldn’t you rather be inside? Well, you’re in luck! The 24th Annual Greater Philadelphia Mid-Winter Scottish and Irish Music Festival and Fair is this weekend, launching Friday night with a concert featuring the wild Scottish percussion band Albannach as well as our own homegrown wild men, The Hooligans. And it’s all happening inside at the Valley Forge Events Center in King of Prussia.

Check the event’s website for a complete lineup with times so you can make your plans.

You’ll see Gerry Timlin with partner Tom Kane at the festival, and Timlin will be going solo Saturday night at what’s shaping up to be THE place to hear Irish music in the region, the Dubliner on the Delaware in New Hope. Timlin will be going on at 8 PM. And, frankly, all night, because that’s the way he is. (He knows we love him.)

February 12, 2016 by Denise Foley

Dance, News, People, Photos

Getting Ready for Dancing Like a Star

A funny thing happened this year to Wayne’s Mary Lou Sterge. The guy who came to remodel her house asked her to dance.

But no, it’s not what you think. The guy was Louie Bradley, chairperson of the board of the Delco Gaels, youth Gaelic sports club in Delaware County. Last year, Bradley was the winner of the silver mirrored trophy, along with dance partner Michelle Quinn, for the Delco Gaels’ “Dancing Like a Star” fundraiser, in which eight couples compete in various dance styles that they’ve learned over several months of intense rehearsals.

“Louie recently remodeled my house. My house looks great, and now I’m dancing,” said Sterge, a fundraiser, after rehearsal last Sunday at the McDade-Cara Irish Dance School studio in Newtown Square. She and her partner, Tom Gregory, were sharing some pizza after an hour of dancing to Ike and Tina Turner’s Proud Mary, he in silver platform shoes he bought from the internet.

February 5, 2016 by Denise Foley

How to Be Irish in Philly, Music

How to Be Irish in Philly This Week

We’re just a week away from the 24th annual Greater Philadelphia Mid-Winter Scottish and Irish Music Festival at the Valley Forge Events Center in King of Prussia. And as usual, organizer Bill Reid has come up with about a hundred ways to have a fabulous weekend of music, dance, food, drink, and other great Celtic stuff (sword fight, anyone?) just in time for Valentine’s Day.

Many local performers and bands, including The John Byrne Band, Jamison, The Hooligans, Oliver McElhone, Timlin & Kane, Charlie Zahm and Tad Marks, Gabriel Donohue and Seamus Kennedy (back by popular demand) will be on stage, along with long-time festival favorites Albannach, the Brigadoons, Searson, the Screaming Orphans, the MacLeod Fiddlers and the Washington Memorial Pipers and Drummers. While fan favorite Brother isn’t on the bill, the group’s Angus Richardson will be there. And new this year, the Canadian Celtic rock group, the Mudmen will be rousing the rabble, starting on Friday night, February 12.

This could be the perfect time for you to learn Irish, ceili dancing, and how to tell the difference between whiskies—there are also workshops daily over the three-day event. There’s always a great array of vendors whether you’re interested in jewelry, kilts, or haggis-flavored potato chips.

February 5, 2016 by Denise Foley

How to Be Irish in Philly

How To Be Irish in Philly This Week

If you’re colorblind, Old City this weekend might look like a giant “Where’s Waldo” game as Celtic supporters—that is, superfans of the Celtic Gaelic Football Club in Glasgow—descend on the city for their annual Celtic fest. You’ll know them—they’ll be the ones in the green and white jerseys with great big smiles on their faces.

You’ll run into them mainly at The Plough and the Stars, home of the Second Street PloughBhoys (the local branch), where they’ll be having lots of good food and listening to great live music (including Irish transplants Derm Farrell and Raymond Coleman) in between watching games and talking about games. It’s all great craic, even if you don’t care much about football.

January 29, 2016 by Denise Foley

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