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Philly Parade Director Accepts O’Hara Award

Philly Parade Director Michael Bradley and John Caramanico, president of the Cardinal O'Hara Alumni Association.

Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Parade Director was one of two 2011 recipients of the Cardinal O’Hara Alumni Spirit of O’Hara Award.

Michael Bradley received the award on Sunday, March 7, after a Mass at the high school where he sent his two sons, Mickey and Colin, and where he and his wife, Linda, have been a longtime volunteers.

Villanova head football coach Andy Talley was the guest speaker at the awards breakfast, attended by more than 100 people.

We were there and have photos.

March 11, 2011 by Denise Foley

News

Elks Lodge Creams the Competition in Annual Irish Coffee Contest

The distinguished panel of judges.

It’s official.

In the sixth and largest Irish coffee competition ever sponsored by Ancient Order of Hibernians Division 1 in Swedesburg, Elks Lodge 714 in Bridgeport rose to the top. (8-East came in a close second, and there was a tie for third with Goodwill Fire Company and the Rib-House.)

Nine groups competed Thursday night, according to the Times Herald of Norristown.

Check out the newspaper’s video for an up-close look at the event.

March 11, 2011 by Jeff Meade

News

Blackthorn Parade Fundraiser a Smash Hit

Yes, you can eat and dance to Blackthorn at the same time.

They’re not “The Wiggles,” but there’s something about the Celtic group, Blackthorn, that gets the toddler set out on the dance floor, as our photos from Sunday’s Blackthorn benefit for the Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Parade will illustrate. (The little lady you see is one example.)

There’s also something about the group that gets 700 or so people to come to Springfield Country Club every year to help raise money for the nation’s second oldest parade. This year, that included Philly comic Joe Conklin, Rep. Patrick Meehan, CBS3 Anchor Susan Barnett (who left her own baby’s christening party to be there) and Ancient Order of Hibernians National President Seamus Boyle, who all took turns at the microphone to urge even more spending for the once-a-year Irish celebration. The genial crowd, who bid on auction items, paid for 50-50 tickets, and kept the spirits flowing, were happy to do so.

The parade goes on Sunday, March 13, rain or shine.

The Springfield event is the largest of the parade benefits that began two years ago when the city of Philadelphia found itself in a budget funk and withdrew funding for many of the basics–police, barricades, portable toilets, and cleanup–that it once absorbed. Other parade organizations from the Mummers to Puerto Rican Day marchers have had to hold more fundraisers to keep the city’s many ethnic parades stepping out every year. This year, several AOH groups as well as the Second Street Irish Society held benefits throughout the city.

If you couldn’t be there, here are some photos to make you wish you had been.

March 11, 2011 by Denise Foley

News

Video: The 2011 Burlington County St. Patrick’s Day Parade

The Ireland Dancers

Well, we couldn’t shoot video of everybody and everything. Still, we think we’ve assembled a nice little sampler.

It includes Jamison, winners of a best Irish band contest, stopping to play in front of the reviewing stand. You’ll also see the DeNogla Dancers, who really didn’t hold still from the start of the parade to the very end. We’ve also tossed in a brief clip of the Ireland Dancers, who never fail to disappoint. And with their bright yellow sweaters, they’re hard to miss.

Hope you like it!

March 6, 2011 by Jeff Meade

News

A Look Back at the 2011 Burlington County St. Patrick’s Day Parade

Pearse Kerr, waving to the crowd.

Pearse Kerr rode down High Street, perched on the back seat of a bright blue convertible, his wife Liz at his side. He wore sunglasses to shield his eyes from the glare of the afternoon—a balmy day in the low 60s. He also wore the tricolor sash of the Burlington County St. Patrick’s Day Parade grand marshal. It looked good on him.

That was the happy start to the region’s first St. Patrick’s Day parade. Like most parades of the type, it was filled, beginning to end, with perky Irish dancers and serious-looking pipers, hordes of Hibernians, and local paddy rock bands playing on flatbed floats. There were precious few missteps, with the exception of the Guinness man—some dude wearing a kind of soft-sculpture pint glass—who held up the parade for blocks (just like every year), as practically everyone ran into High Street to have their picture taken with him. At one point, a Mount Holly patrolman stepped forward to hurry him along. (“I warned him about this last year,” he grumbled.)

The crowd was three deep in some places, with folks wearing cardboard Irish top hats and green plastic shamrock beads.

All told, another grand day. We have the pictures. Check out the slideshow (above), or the photo essay here.

March 6, 2011 by Jeff Meade

News

The 2011 CBS3 Party in Videos

McDade-Cara dancers posing for a quick photo.

There’s so much going on at the annual Pre-St. Patrick’s Day Parade party, we couldn’t capture it all. But we did collect a bit of video that should put you in your own parade party mood.

First up—the musicians who kept the party rolling all night long: Karen Boyce McCollum, Luke Jardel, and Brian Boyce.

Next up—the McDade-Cara dancers, who performed toward the end of the night. (And who then went on to replenish their energy at the desserts table.)

What a swell party it was!

March 4, 2011 by Jeff Meade

News, People

Party Before the Parade

CBS3's parade team members, anchor Susan Barnett and meteorologist Kathy Orr.

As always, it was a great party, the calm—sort of—before the storm that is the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Philadelphia which marches down the Parkway on Sunday, March 13.

But CBS3 meteorologist Kathy Orr told the happy crowd at the CBS3 studios on Thursday night that they can leave their umbrellas at home. But dress warm. “It’s going to be cold, but dry,” she said to great cheers. These were the people who marched in the rain last year, so cold seems like a step up.

John Dougherty of IBEW Local Union 98—the electricians—underwrites the pre-parade party at the CBS3 studios every year. The parade is televised live on CBS and usually repeated again on St. Patrick’s Day on CBS3 and sister station, CW Philly.

You can see who was there and what fun was had in our photo essay.

March 4, 2011 by Denise Foley

Music, News, People

Irish Radio Show Fundraiser: Big Success

A little boy named Owen picked the winners--with the help of emcee and Shanachie owner, Gerry Timlin.

It was standing-room only at the Shanachie Pub in Ambler on Sunday afternoon, as act after act took the stage to perform in the second Shanachie fundraiser to benefit the Sunday Irish Radio Shows on WTMR-800 AM.

After the music had stilled and all the donated prizes had been won or auctioned off, Marianne MacDonald, host of the “Come West Along the Road” show, estimated that the benefit had raised more than $3,000. It’s not the $35,000 the shows—including the Vince Gallagher Hour—need to stay on the air, but it goes into the pot that grew over the past six weeks with on-air and other fundraisers.

MacDonald, who organized the benefit with the help of many hands, had an all-star lineup on stage, including the John Bryne Band, Timlin and Kane, The King Brothers, Fintan Malone and Tom McHugh, with special guest from New York, singer Donie Carroll, a Cork man whose latest album includes musical assistance from leading lights such as Gabriel Donohue, Joanie Madden (of Cherish the Ladies”), singer Jimmy Crowley and Marian Makins of Philadelphia. Carroll was accompanied on stage by Dublin fiddler Paraic Keane, who now lives in Philadelphia and plays with Paul Moore and Friends.

As usual, Shanachie co-owner Gerry Timlin, when he wasn’t singing, was performing the role of emcee and auctioneer.

We were there and, as usual, took pictures for those of you who weren’t. View the photo essay.

March 4, 2011 by Denise Foley

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