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The smile says it all: Daniel Spahr at a past AOH Notre Dame Div. 1 Irish Festival. It's going on all weekend.

Like festivals? Have we got a weekend for you.

The Montgomery County AOH Notre Dame Div. 1 Irish Festival kicks off on Friday at St. Michael’s Picnic Grounds in Mont Clare, not far from Phoenixville. Plenty of music (Bogside Rogues, Paddy’s Well, Misty Isle, Oliver McElhone, Celtic Spirit), food, vendors, fun for the kids, and $2 beers all weekend long. Only $5 to get in and free parking to boot. And it goes on for three days, sorta like Woodstock but without Wavy Gravy.

The annual Appel Farm Arts and Music Festival happens on Saturday. Not a lot of Celtic acts (Enter the Haggis), but plenty of other great music including Patty Griffin, Buddy Miller, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings; kids events; and “Poets on the Grove” featuring some hot poetry acts like Napam de Bomb. It’s all going on in Elmer, NJ.

On Sunday, Penns Landing goes all green and shamrocky with the annual Irish Festival, with Paddy’s Well and Blackthorn headlining; 11—count them—11 Irish dance troupes, vendors galore, and food. It follows the annual 10:30 AM Mass at the Irish Memorial at Penns Landing. Mezzo soprano Jocelyn McGillian, the 2009 Rose of Tralee, will sing.

This week also kicks off some early Bloomsday (June 16) events in Philadelphia. On Sunday, when you take a break from festivalling, head to the Rosenbach Museum on Delancey Place in the city where there will be a Hands On Tour of the museum’s James Joyce collection (there’s a Ulysses’ manuscript!) and other English literature holdings, including works by Bram “Dracula” Stoker. And when they say hands on, they mean it. You get to touch!

If you’re into cramming your schedule tight, stay in town and have dinner at McGillin’s Olde Ale House on Drury Street where they’re having a black tie beef-n-beer to celebrate turning 150. The Budweiser Clydesdales—all six-feet, 2000 pounds each of them—will be there. No pony rides.

Don’t forget to tune in to WTMR 800AM on Sunday starting at 11 AM to make your pledge to the Sunday radio shows—the Vince Gallagher Irish Radio Hour and Marianne MacDonald’s “Come West Along the Road.” This is week 3 in the pledge drive and your chance to keep Irish music filling the radiowaves every Sunday morning.

Looking ahead: Brush up your Irish at an all-day Irish language immersion program at the Irish Center next Saturday. There are also classes for the curious or beginners too at Satharn na nGael, or “Gaelic Saturday.” The Philadelphia and Mid-Atlantic Rose of Tralee Centres are sponsoring an Alex’s Lemonade Stand to raise money for research into childhood cancers next Saturday at the Irish Immigration Center in Upper Darby. The Mid-Atlantic Rose of Tralee will be chosen on June 26 at a gala event at the Irish Center. Order your tickets now—they’re going fast.

Check out our calendar for times, directions, and other important details.

Blackthorn with Eileen Ivers: They have fun and they're carriers too. See them at Canstatter's this weekend.

Whether you’re heading to the shore or just planning a cookout in the backyard or heading over to Canstatter’s in the northeast to spend Memorial Day with Blackthorn, take some time out this weekend to remember the men and women who gave their lives to make and keep us free. That’s what it’s all about.

Burning Bridget Cleary has been everywhere in the last few weeks, and they’re back (sort of) in the area, playing at the Shawnee on the Delaware Celtic Festival in the Poconos on Saturday and at Mayfair in Allentown on Memorial Day.

The Sunday Irish Radio Shows fundraiser is in full swing—tune in to 800-AM (you can hear it live on the Web too) between 11 and 1 on Sunday as the Philadelphia Donegal Association takes your pledges over the phone. There are lots of great prizes you can win just by making a donation to keep Irish music on the radio in the Delaware Valley.

The previously mentioned Blackthorn event at Canstatters—it’s where I first hear this rocking Celtic group—goes on rain or shine thanks to a tent. If you’ve been to a Blackthorn concert, you know it’s fun. If you’ve never been to Blackthorn concert, what’s wrong with you?

We’re going to look ahead to next weekend because there’s plenty going on you need to know about. June 6 is the big day—the Irish-American Festival at Penns Landing, with Blackthorn, Paddy’s Well, The Hooligans, and Round Tower, 11 dancing groups, and plenty of vendors and food, all on the waterfront in Philadelphia. The festivities start at noon. A Mass will be celebrated at the Irish Memorial at the waterfront right before the gates open.

It’s also the big day for AOH Notre Dame Division 1 which holds its big Irish festival at St. Michael’s Picnic Grounds in Mont Clare.

And you can enjoy both those events and still be in time to have your picture taken with one of the Budweiser Clydesdales at McGillin’s Olde Ale House in Philadelphia. The oldest Irish pub in the city is turning 150 and they’re having a big blast between 5 and 8 PM with all kinds of beer and Irish comfort food—all for $45. But tickets are going fast, so check out our calendar for the details.

And check out the calendar for information on Satharn na nGael, a Gaelic Saturday immersion weekend for those who are interested in the Irish language. If you register by May 29, you get a discount. This all-Irish-all-the-time day is being held at the Irish Center on June 12.

All the action is back at Cardinal Dougherty on Sunday!

This is one seriously Irish weekend. Here are your choices:

Take a bag of groceries to Washington Savings in Philadelphia and the Hibernian Hunger Project—which will put the food to good use feeding the needy—will allow you to shred one bag of your most important papers, the ones you don’t want to fall into the wrong hands.

The hot local group, Burning Bridget Cleary, are holding workshops for the Philadelphia Folksong Society in Philadelphia on Satuday. You can go and still make it in time to hear Irish tenor Daniel O’Donnell—a Donegal man—in concert at the Academy of Music.

At the Irish Center, the first of two major events: The Philadelphia Ceili Group Fundraiser on Saturday, which features some of the area’s sterling Irish traditional musicians and will raise money for the group’s annual Traditional Irish Music Festival in September.

On Sunday, 11 Delaware Valley Irish-born or Irish-American women will be honored with the first Inspirational Irish Women awards. The cocktail reception will launch an art exhibit by abstract impressionist Pat Gallagher, former of Ardmore an now living in Louisville, KY, whose work is owned by President Barack Obama, Irish Ambassador Michael Collins, and former 76ers coach Larry Brown. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Irish Center and Project H.O.M.E., a program to end homelessness founded by one of the award winners, Sister Mary Scullion.

Sunday also kicks of the biannual fundraiser for the Sunday Irish Radio Shows on WTMR 800-AM. Tune in at 11 for the Vince Gallagher Irish Radio Hour followed by “Come West Along the Road” with Marianne MacDonald and call in a pledge to keep Irish music on the air.

Busy day, Sunday. On Sunday morning, AOH Div. 39 will join in an international day of remembrance for An Gorta Mor, the Great Hunger, with a Mass and breakfast afterwards. The Philadelphia Shamrocks hurling team will meet the Washington, DC, Gaels on the field at Cardinal Dougherty High School on N. Second Street in Philadelphia (not far from Cheltenham). The Bucks County Irish Center Annual Festival is being held at Park Polanka in Bensalem, with music , dancing, and food. And to top off the day, the legendary Kevin Burke and Cal Scott will bring their virtuoso sound to the Coatesville Cultural Center.

Support your local Irish immigrant by attending the rally for immigration reform at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. Representatives from the Irish Immigration Center of Philadelphia will be there. Last time they brought step dancers—the Irish really know how to demonstrate.

And get ready for a fabulous concert next weekend at the Irish Center. Part of the proceeds from the show, with topflight groups The Elders and Searson, will go to support the Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

Irish-American actress Kathy Kinney doesn't really look like her Mimi Bobek character from The Drew Carey Show... see for yourself when she signs her new book in the Philly area this week.

This weekend you can help the Hibernians help a veteran in need, see the flashing hard shoes of Michael Flatley’s “Lord of the Dance,” dance your own feet off at AOH Notre Dame Division 1’s annual ceili, and see Burning Bridget Cleary burn up the stage at the Dutch Country Playhouse in Telford.

All in all, not a bad weekend to be Irish.

On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, AOH Division 51 is holding its fourth annual “Fill the cart-help a vet in need” project at the Thriftway at Aramingo and York in Philadelphia. Food donations will help homeless vets served by the Philadelphia Veterans Multi-Service and Education Center.

On stage at the Merriam Theater through Monday is the touring company of “Lord of the Dance,” a classic good vs. evil story told in Irish dance. We talked to the evil Dark Lord himself, dancer Adam McSharry, last week. It’s his eighth year as the embodiment of evil and he loves it.

Burning Bridget Cleary is a hot—really—local group that’s destined for big things. This is your chance to see them locally in concert on Saturday night in Telford.

In a dancing mood? Head over to Swedesburg and move your feet to the music of Tom McHugh and Kevin and Jimmy McGillian.

On Sunday night, Bill and Karen Reid are hosting a house party featuring Brother, a Celtic rock group. There’s limited seating so call now.

On Thursday, the Irish Network-Philadelphia group (we call them IN-Philly because we know them, but you can too) will hold its second happy hour at Maggie O’Neill’s Pub in Drexel Hill. Look for monthly get-togethers, including some tag rugby (we’ll be taking a pass on that) down the line and a trip to one of the Irish Center’s popular Rambling House events.

You probably remember Irish-American actress Kathy Kinney as the make-up-impaired Mimi Bobeck on The Drew Carey Show. She and friend, Cindy Ratzlaff, have just written a book called “Queen of Your Own Life,” which encourages women to claim their happiness—and even wear a crown once in a while. She’ll be at the Barnes and Noble Store in Cherry Hill on Thursday night signing books (sans Mimi makeup, but perhaps wearing a crown). It’s a well-written, funny book (you expected something less?) that’s as wise as it is wise-ass.

Country music singer-songwriter Craig Bickhardt is making his every third Thursday appearance this week at The Shanachie in Ambler. He’s played with and recorded with the best, including Martina McBride, B.B. King, Vince Gill, The Judds and Ray Charles.
Next weekend is a killer: So much to choose from, so little time. The Philadelphia Ceili Group is holding a fundraiser on Saturday, May 22, to help finance its annual traditional music festival in September. They’re pulling from the city’s bountiful local talent, including fiddler Paraic Keane, guitarist John Brennan, and whistle and flute maven Paddy O’Neill to create a brilliant, home-grown concert. Requested donation is $15, but give more—it’s tax deductible.

On Sunday afternoon, one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People—Philadelphia nun and activist for the homeless, Sister Mary Scullion—will be among 11 Delaware Valley Irish and Irish-American women honored at the Irish Center in its first Inspirational Irish Women awards event. The cocktail reception and awards program kicks off an art exhibit of portraits by Pat Gallagher, formerly of the Main Line and the son of Irish immigrants. Go to the Web site to order tickets.

Next weekend Burning Bridget Cleary (remember what we told you about them) is also doing a workshop for the Philadelphia Folksong Society; tenor Daniel O’Donnell will be performing at the Academy of Music, and the Coatesille Irish Music Series is bringing legendary duo Kevin Burke and Cal Scott to the stage at the Coatesville.
Check the calendar for all the details.

Ford Motor Company chief economist Ellen Hughes-Cromwick will speak at the Irish-American Business Chamber this week.

When the recession looked like it was going to kick the American auto industry to the curb, the Ford Motor Company emerged as the only one of the big three in a position to survive. Not only did it survive, it’s thriving. In April, Ford reported a net profit of $2.2 billion or 50 cents a share—its largest pretax profit in six years, and all due to higher sales, not a bailout.

You have a unique opportunity to find out how Ford did it on Wednesday when Ellen Hughes-Cromwick, the company’s chief economist and global director of strategy, speaks to the Irish American Business Chamber and Network at a lunch meeting at the Union League in Philadelphia. The event is open to non-members, but you’ll have to act fast to save a seat. Contact Alanna Barry McCloskey at abarry@iabcn.org.

This weekend will give you ample opportunity to flex your Irish. On Saturday, Bill and Karen Reid will roll out their fourth annual Phoenixille Celtic Street Fair. Those wonderful folks who bring you the Mid-Winter Scottish-Irish Festival and the new Brittingham’s summer Scottish-Irish Festival and more are stocking the 200 block of Bridge Street with the best in local Irish entertainment, including the always good Bogside Rogues, Charlie Zahm, Olier McElhone, Na’Bodach, Irish Thunder, and the New York Celtic Dancers. As always, there will be dozens of vendors and lots to eat and drink. Even without the festival, Phoenixville has a lot to offer, but with it, wow.

If you stay in Phoenixville for dinner, head over to Molly Maguire’s to hear the remarkable local group, Burning Bridget Cleary, performing starting at 6 p.m.

If your Irish ancestors came to America to work as servants in the homes of the wealthy, you will enjoy a talk by Margaret Lynch-Brennan, author of “The Irish Bridget,” the story of Irish immigrant servants from 1840 to 1930, at the Ebenezer Maxwell Mansion in Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon.

On Saturday night, The Galway Society is holding its annual dinner dance at the Irish Center, with music provided by the Vince Gallagher Band.

On Thursday, Villanova University librarians Darren Poley and Michael Foight will speak at the Independence Seaport Museum about the digitization of the Commodore Barry papers, a joint project that brings together materials owned by Independence Seaport Museum and other family-related papers. Included are items that feature nautical related themes with content from Commodore John Barry (1745-1803), a Wexford native who lived and is buried in Philadelphia. The event includes a tour of the museum and its archives by Matt Herbison, director of the J. Welles Henderson Archives and Library, Independence Seaport Museum. Light refreshments will be served.

And for all you Saw Doctors fans, your guys will be performing at The Note, an intimate venue in West Chester on Thursday night.

Friday is “choose your own Celtic treat” day. Here’s what’s going on:

AOH Division 3 is holding its annual golf outing and dinner at the Pine Crest Country Club in Lansdale, a fundraiser for AOH charities.

Two of our favorites, Matt and Shannon Heaton, are performing at Immanuel Episcopal Church in Wilmington, DE. (They’re heading back our way on May 26 for a special show at the Shanachie Pub and Restaurant.)

Michael Flately’s “Lord of the Dance” extravaganza starts its weekend run at the Merriam Theater on South Broad Street in Philadelphia. (We talked to one of the leads, Adam McSharry, who plays Don Dorcha, the dark lord.)

Seven Nations, the Celtic heavy metal rockers, will be playing at Brittingham’s in Lafayette Hill (kilts, bagpipes, and nonstop guitar riffs—trust me, it works).

Coming up: On May 22, there will be a musical benefit at the Irish Center to raise money for the Philadelphia Ceili Group’s annual traditional music festival (that happens in September), featuring Paddy O’Neill with traditional Northern Ireland tunes on wooden flute, traditional and original music by John Brennan on fiddle and guitar; John McGillian on accordian; Caitlyn Finley playing fiddle tunes from the late Andy McGann and others; and Paraic Keane uses his fiddle to show how musical virtuosity is genetic (his father, Sean, is with the Chieftains, and uncle, James Keane, is such an accomplished button accordian player he has an instrument named after him). An open session will follow the concert, so bring your instruments. Tickets are only $15.

On May 23, the Irish Center and the Irish Immigration Center of Greater Philadelphia will honor 11 “Inspirational Irish Women” at a cocktail reception which will also open an exhibit of portraits done by Pat Gallagher, the son of Irish immigrants who grew up on Philadelphia’s Main Line. Tickets to the event are $35 and include hot and cold hors d’oeuvres, wine and beer. You can order tickets online or by calling 215-884-1936 or 215-779-1466. Proceeds from the event benefit the Irish Center and Project H.O.M.E., a charity founded by one of the honorees, Sister Mary Scullion.

The other honorees are Princess Grace of Monaco; Emily Riley, executive vice president of the Connelly Foundation; Sister Kathleen Marie Keenan, senior vice president of Mercy Health; Rosemarie Timoney, founder of the Timoney School of Irish Dance; Kathy Orr, CBS3 meterologist; Denise Sullivan Morrison, president of a major division of the Campbell’s Soup Company; Liz Kerr of LAOH Brigid McCrory Division 25; Siobhan Reardon, first woman president of the Free Library of Philadelphia; Rosabelle Gifford, first recipient of the Rose of Tralee Mary O’Connor Spirit Award for her courageous spirit; and Kathy McGee Burns, first woman president of the Donegal Association, president of the Delaware Valley Hall of Fame, and first vice president of the Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Observance Association.

This is your week to pick up some interesting tidbits of Irish history.

On Sunday, Celtic scholar Sister Sheila Holly SSJ, will present a talk on “The Ancient Celts who They Were” at the Ancient Order of HiberniansHall in Bristol Borough.

Genealogist and blogger Deborah Large Fox’s Irish genealogy group meets on Thursday morning at the Family History Center in Cherry Hill, where you can learn about tracing your own Irish history.

And on the following Saturday,writer Margaret Lynch-Brennan will talk about her book, “The Irish Bridget,”about Irish immigrant in domestic service from 1840 to 1930, at the historic Ebenezer Maxwell Mansion in Germantown.

On Friday, May 7, the Philadelphia Ceili Group is sponsoring the only Philadelphia screening of the life and times of the late Liam Clancy of the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem at the Irish Center. Tickets will not be sold at the door so order yours now (they’re only $10).

Synchronize your calendars: Next Saturday is the fourth annual Irish Street Festival in Phoenixville, a free event filled with music, dancing, vendors, food, and general conviviality in a town that’s vying for “most Irish community” in Pennsylvania (take that as a challenge, Upper Darby).

And on May 23, honor 11 remarkable Irish women and help support the Philadelphia Irish Center at a cocktail party and awards program at the Irish Center, which opens an art exhibit. The fabulous contemporary Irish group, Runa, and members of the musical Boyce family (including Michael and John of Blackthorn and their sister, Karen, who sang with Causeway) will perform. Tickets are only $35 and include hot and cold hors d’oeuvres, wine and beer, and a chance to mingle with some of the most amazing women you’ll ever meet.

The McDade Dancers, taking it to the street. They're holding a feis this weekend.

The two Irish plays in town have gotten rave reviews. This is your last weekend to see Enda Walsh’s “Bedbound” from the Inis Nua Theatre Company at the Playground at the Adrienne. Conor McPherson’s “Shining City” is also wrapping up its run, so get your tickets now.

There’s a lot going on this week that you need to know about, whether you like Celtic rock, trad, Irish dancing, or Irish conviviality. And hey, who doesn’t like all of those things?

On Saturday, Jamison, the Celtic rock band, is headlining the Benefit for Chrissy (Chrissy Hemphill, an 11-year-old with a degenerative hip disorder) at the Firefighters Union in Philadelphia.

On Saturday night, the Broken Shillelaghs are playing at Heavy’s on the Harbor in Gloucester City, NJ, just over the bridge from Philadelphia.

On Sunday The McDade School is holding its Four Provinces Feis at the Marple Sports Arena in Broomall. If you’ve never been to a feis (pronounced fesh), this is one to see since McDade produces some serious championship dancers.

The Derry Society is hold its spring social at the Irish Center on Sunday, starting at 3 p.m. The Bare Knuckle Boxers and the Shantys will provide the music, and the Cummins and Gibbons School dancers will show you how it’s done. There’s an adult and kids’ buffet.

It’s a busy Sunday. Once again, Blackthorn is raising money for the USO. The second annual USO Rocks the Troops with Blackthorn is on tap at P.J. Whelihan’s Pub in Cherry Hill, N.J.

If you look at our calendar, you’ll see Canadian group Great Big Sea is playing at Sellersville, but the show has been sold out for weeks. You’ll have to call for any last minute cancellations.

Coming up next Friday, Isaac Alderson, Grainne Murphy, and Alan Murray will play in concert at the Irish Center, sponsored by the Philadelphia Ceili Group. Alderson is a world-class flute player, the only American since Cherish the Ladies’ Joannie Madden to win a tin whistle championship, which he grabbed at the 2002 Fleadh Cheoil in Listowel, Ireland. He was also named All-Ireland Senior Champion in two other instruments—uilleann pipes and flute. This is your chance to see hear a world-class musician who defines “triple threat.” And he’s not even 25.