News

A Message From Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Parade Director Michael Bradley

Michael Bradley

Parade director Michael Bradley in the booth with CBS3's Kathy Orr.

We started off parade season with a great fundraiser at AOH Division 39 in Tacony. Thanks to President Ed Dougherty, who provided us hospitality at their club. The event was chaired by Joe Fox, the president of the AOH Philadelphia County Board, and Kathy Fanning, the president of the LAOH Philadelphia County Board. Music was by Frank Daly’s great band Jameson; dancers were from Chrissy Zeo Harbison’s fantastic Celtic Flame School of Irish Dance. Everyone danced, sang and had a great time while raising
money for the parade.

The next major event was a fundraiser with another great night at 2nd Street Irish Society in South Philly. Thanks to President Michael Remshard who provided us a great night at their club. The event was chaired by our newest board member John Stevenson, the founder of 2nd Street Irish Society. Music was by John McGillian’s band 5 Quid and the dancers were from Jeannine McGuire’s 2nd Street Irish Society Step Dancers. Speeches were given and I made mention of 2nd St Irish Society’s 15th anniversary and that their club has a whole wall with awards won at the Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day parade. After what I saw at the parade, you are going to fill up more walls! Again, our goal was to mingle with our hosts and guests in a relaxed atmosphere and have a good
time while raising money for the parade.

We had a VIP Reception for our major sponsors, which was held in the Grand Lobby at CBS3 and is the highlight of the social calendar. Grand Marshal Sister James Anne Feerick IHM was introduced, gave a heartfelt speech and even danced for us. Kathy
McGee Burns introduced the Ring of Honor: Sr. Kathleen Brabson, S.S.J., Bernadette Browne, Honorable Pamela P. Dembe, Denise Foley, Liz Kerr, Eileen Lavin, Sister Christine McCann, R.S.M., and Honorable Kelly C. Wall.

We introduced the great CBS3 /CW Philly 57 team of Susan Barnett, Kathy Orr, Bob Kelly, Perry Casciato, Chris May, Jim Donovan, Dave Huddleston, Susan Schiller and Joanne Calabria. All mingled with guests and a fantastic time was had by all in attendance.

The highlight of the night was that we had the honor of presenting John Dougherty a plaque for all his years or support with the Irish community and specifically his support for the parade. There would be no parade of this magnitude without John Dougherty and
IBEW Local 98, so make sure you thank him when you see him. We also gave awards to major sponsors Sandy Muller and Marty Farrell from Muller Beverage. The music was provided by Karen Boyce McCollum, Brian Boyce and Luke Jardel and the dancers were from the McDade School of Irish Dance. The outstanding food was served by Cescaphe Caterers; I don’t think I have ever been to a wedding as elegant as this affair.

Our next fundraiser kicked of parade week on Sunday March 6 at Springfield Country Club where we had over 850 in attendance. Blackthorn provided their usual fantastic show. The dancers were from the McDade, Cara, and McHugh School of Irish Dance,
and ended with all of them performing together as one! CBS3 anchor Susan Barnett left her own son’s christening to be there! CBS3’s Bob Kelly is always there with us and a huge crowd favorite at Irish events. I invited the “The Man of a Thousand Voices” Joe
Conklin who had the crowd in stitches with his impersonations of Philly celebrities who were supposed to be at the fundraiser but couldn’t make it, notably Allen Iverson, Charlie Manuel, Cole Hammels and Andy Reid! We were joined by our Irish radio hosts Mike Concannon, Marianne McDonald, and Vince Gallagher. Special thanks to “professional volunteers” Linda Bradley, Carmel and Barney Boyce, Frances Duffy, Pat Donnelly, Tom Kearney, Kathy Metzger and especially Chris Phillips for organizing the Silent
Auction. We had an awesome time and I have already booked Springfield Country Club for Sunday March 4, 2012, for next year so save the date!

We started Thursday March 10 at City Hall for a wreath laying and tribute to the Irish patriots with the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick. We then proceeded on to the magnificent Mayors Reception Room for the Governor’s and Mayor’s proclamation of March as “Irish
Month.” Kathy McGee Burns introduced our Grand Marshal Sister James Anne Feerick IHM and Ring of Honor, and the dancing was provided by Rose Marie Timoney and the Timoney School of Irish Dance. Hard to believe that Sister James Anne was never
Grand Marshal before, I guess it just goes to show you how many outstanding Irish and Irish Americans we are blessed to have in our region. Mayor Nutter and Councilman Bill Green spoke and we were joined by State Reps Brendan and Kevin Boyle as they
read proclamations.

Over at the Doubletree Hotel for the annual luncheon, Kathy McGee Burns sashed our Grand Marshal, Sister James Anne to a thundering applause. They also sashed our outstanding ring of Honor: Kathy Orr and Perry Casciato from CBS3 were in attendance and another great time was had by all in anticipation of our parade. 2010 Grand Marshal and a celebrity in his own right, Seamus Boyle, the national president of the AOH, was saluted. We were also graced by the presence of Sandy Muller from Muller Beverage, presents from Johnny Doc and local 98, and amazingly a perfect parade book with a photo of Sister James Anne on the cover. Everyone always just takes it for granted that these books show up on time and I want to acknowledge all the hard work on the parade book by Greg Skahan from Griffiths Printing and Pat Donnelly.

On Sunday March 13, the Mass was magnificent, organized by Len Armstrong and the committee. The Emerald Pipers led a procession up the aisle to start the Mass celebrated by Cardinal Rigali, Father Kevin Gallagher, Father Chris Walsh, and others too numerous to mention for fear of forgetting someone. The singing, always an Irish tradition and treat, was headlined by the St. James Alumni Choir, Soloist Karen Boyce McCollum, and National Anthem by Frank Gallagher. While the Mass was going on, George
Hollingsworth, who is retired from the City and whom I cannot do without, was in work clothes screwing down a dance floor at the performing area, while Joe Callan was helping me organize the performing area.

We had 187 groups and started the parade at 16th & JFK at 11:15 a.m. The bands were awesome, the dancers magnificent, the marchers inspiring, and the crowd never stopped cheering. Timmy Kelly started us off with his usual jaw-dropping, tear-wiping
rendition of Danny Boy, and Frank Gallagher chipped in with America the Beautiful, and the crowd’s enthusiasm never waned the whole four and one half hours. The 2011 Theme was: ST. PATRICK, BLESS OUR RELIGIOUS SISTERS WHO SERVE, INSPIRE AND EDUCATE.

We were led off this year by our friends from Philadelphia’s Finest, the Emerald Society Pipes and Drums. I cannot thank enough John McNesby, president of FOP Local 5, and Harry Marnie for their hospitality and help at FOP 5 after the parade. Special thanks to
Captain Tom Helker, without his help and support, we could never be successful.

I have to give a special hello and thank you to our sisters who marched this year. The Immaculate Heart of Mary Nuns and the Sisters of Mercy nuns made all of us proud and had a ball while doing so. Sisters, thank you and I hope to see you all next year!

Kathy Orr, Susan Barnett, and Bob Kelly did another outstanding job and were ably assisted by Father Kevin Gallagher and Karen Boyce McCollum. I was honored to be asked to go into the booth and do some commentating, but to tell you the truth, it was so
hot in there and I couldn’t sit still that long, my ADD was in high gear and I left after I lost interest in the booth, and not being on the street. So I have a brand new appreciation of our commentators and the preparation and work that they do! If you would like to
see the parade, go to www.CBSPhilly.com and you can watch the entire parade, or it is on Comcast Video on Demand for free also.

My family joined up with Mike Driscoll’s Family and we rented a double-decker bus. We put the Philly Phanatic and the Penn State Nittany Lion up on top of the bus so all could see him and save him from being mobbed by the crowd. He was obviously a huge hit
and a great addition.

Our award winners and info on our awards party can be found on our Web site at www.philadelphiastpatsparade.com. We look forward to seeing all the winners, sponsors, marcher and friends at our awards party on Wednesday April 13, 2011, at
Finnigan’s Wake at 6 p.m., where we will also announce our Trip to Ireland Winner.

If you have any questions or require information, please visit our Web site. Come join the fun and get to know our board members and the CBS3 celebrities!

The next major Irish event that I am hosting is on Sunday, June 5. We will have the 13th Annual Irish Festival at Penn’s Landing with vendors, dancers, bands, entertainment and the Man and Woman of the year awards. Do not miss it, it is a great event!

Please go to the CBS3 Web site and tell them how much you appreciate their involvement in the Irish community. I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank the Denise Foley, a proud 2011 Ring of Honor member, and Jeff Meade for all their coverage and support not just this month, but 365 days of the year. Their photos are simply “THE BEST” I am proud to call them friends!

Special thanks go out to my wife Linda, and sons Mickey and Colin, for understanding all the time that I have been missing from their lives the last month, to president Kathy McGee Burns and 1st VP Bob Gessler, 2nd VP Chris Phillips, Secretary Mary Frances
Fogg, Treasurer Len Armstrong, all our Board Members, CBS3 President Jon Hitchcock and his staff, Mayor Nutter, Melanie Johnson, Jazelle Jones, George Hollingsworth, Joe Callan, our producer and friend Liz Naughton, and 2nd VP Chris Phillips, who ably handled all the chaos at 16th and JFK and Pat Donnelly for all her help, and to my good friend at CBS 3, without whom this parade wouldn’t make it one minute on TV, Perry Casciato. And a really big special get well quickly to Paul Phillips, I need you to get
well NOW, because I need someone to tell me how bad I screw things up now that Jim Kilgallen, Jack McNamee, & Tom Moffit are gone!

If you are reading this, and missing all this fun, why don’t you get a group to march? All you need is one key person and we’ll do the rest. Contact me at www.philadelphiastpatsparade.com!

By the end of the parade we had over 20,000 marchers strong pass through. To the six groups who did not pass through before TV coverage ended, please accept our apologies, we will make it up to you next year or in some way through this year. The last group is
just as special as the first group to me! We certainly were blessed with great weather!

The title of parade director carries a tremendous responsibility that has been placed on me, but even though it is an unbelievable amount of work, all I can think about, is what an honor it is for me to serve and honor, you and your ancestors. I am very proud to
have that responsibility, and promise to do my best at all times, for everyone in the Irish community. Don’t forget, we have 26 members on our board and they all contribute in some way this fine parade! Make sure you thank them when you see them.

On behalf of the Saint Patrick’s Day Observance Association, thanks again for a wonderful display of religion, tradition, culture, friendship, and love for all things Irish!

In Honor of St Patrick,

Michael J. Bradley Jr.

Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Parade Director

March 24, 2011 by
How to Be Irish in Philly

How To Be Irish in Philly This Week

Dervish will be performing for The Little Sisters of the Poor.

Have you recovered from St. Patrick’s Day? Hope so, because there’s plenty going on this week and you need your strength.

Here’s how it goes:

Saturday

Michael Flatley’s “Lord of the Dance” is showing on movie screens in the area—in 3D! Watch out for those flying feet.

The 8th Annual Notre Dame Alumni 5K Race and Walk will explore Valley Green in Fairmount Park—the physically fit are doing it to benefit St. Malachy’s School.

You can pretend it’s still St. Patrick’s Day at Triumph Brewing in New Hope where the Bogside Rogues are playing.

A must-see! The Donnybrook Cup, which pits American rugby team the Tomahawks against the Irish Wolfhounds at Charles Martin Memorial Stadium on Cottman Avenue. Gates open at 2:30, kick-off and blood flow starts at 4 PM.

Irish tenor Anthony Kearns will be on stage at the Upper Darby Performing Arts Center.

Altan, one of Ireland’s top trad groups, is on stage at the Zellerbach Theatre in Philadelphia.

Fresh from their CD release party, Burning Bridget Cleary will be rocking it at The Farmhouse Tavern on Doylestown.

The Waterfront South Theatre in Camden is presenting the play, “Go Irish: The Purgatory Diaries of Jason Miller.”

Sunday

They’re taking it all off for kids with cancer: Collingswood, NJ, firefighters along with friends and family are shaving their heads at this annual St. Baldrick’s Day fundraiser at Scottish Rite Auditorium in Collingswood. The Broken Shillelaghs are playing music to go bald by.

Rita O’Hare, Sinn Fein representative to the US, will be speaking on the role of Irish Americans in fulfilling one of the tenets of the Good Friday agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland—eventually, one Ireland.

If you live in Allentown, you have a parade marching by—the St. Patrick’s Day parade steps off 1:30 for our northern brethren.

The Irish band Dervish will be at Archbishop Prendergast High School in Drexel Hill for a benefit for The Little Sisters of the Poor.

This one’s a freebie: Dublin comes to Ambler, An evening of Irish music, poetry, food “and general mayhem.” We like the sound of that. And Barleyjuice will be there—we really like the sound of that. This is to lead up to Act II Playhouse’s production of Sebastian Barry’s “The Pride of Parnall Street.”

And DeDannen is going to be at the Sellersville Theatre!

Monday

Oisin MacDiarmada, fiddler and founder of the acclaimed group Teada, and Seamus Begley, quintessential Irish musician and story teller, will be peforming at the Spring Lake Public Library in Spring Lake, NJ. You can also catch them at a house concert in Voorhees on Tuesday. See our calendar for contact info for the house concert—it’s a real house and seating is limited.

The High Kings, a group in the tradition of the Clancy Brothers (in fact, one of them is a Clancy), will be at the World Café Live in Philadelphia.

Wednesday

“The Pride of Parnall Street” by Sebastian Barry opens at the Act II Playhouse in Ambler, part of the Philadelphia Irish Theater Festival.

Thursday

Gaelic Storm is on stage at The Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville.

Friday

Put on your dancing shoes—there’s a St. Patrick’s Day Ceili Dance at the Irish Center in Philadelphia.

One teeny, weeny peek ahead: RUNA, a Philadelphia based Celtic group, will be releasing its new CD—and playing from it—at a party at the Irish Center on Saturday, March 26. Even our non-Irish friends love them.

March 18, 2011 by
News, Sports

A Donnybrook Breaks Out on Saturday

A member of the Irish Wolfhounds rugby team at practice.

They come at each other like charging rhinos, tackling each other at the chest and knees until someone is on the ground under 600 or so pounds of human flesh. All for a prize that looks like a football with a growth disorder.

It’s rugby, and it’s coming—for one day only—to Philadelphia this Saturday, March 19, reviving a tradition called The Donnybrook Cup, which pits a semi-pro/amateur team from the US against Irish players, many of whom play in the Rugby League in England.

The Tomahawks—the US National team, ranked 15th in the world—will face the Irish Wolfhounds (ranked 7th) at Charles Martin Memorial Stadium on Cottman Avenue in northeast Philadelphia, with kick-off at 4 PM (gates open at 2:30 PM). The match-up was a regular St. Patrick’s Day event until 2003, and it’s being revived this year with two teams who have met on the field six times, with the Tomahawks holding a 4-2 edge.

If you don’t think of rugby as an Irish sport—or even an American one—you’re mostly right. “Footy” is most popular in places like England—where it was born—and Australia (Aussie actor Russell Crowe owns his own rugby team). But, says Wolfhounds’ coach Alan Robinson, it’s actually the number two sport in Ireland.
“It’s second after soccer,” says Robinson, who also coaches a team in Coventry, England.

And all those rugby t-shirts you’ve seen are true: They play without protection, they have bigger balls, and they may indeed eat their dead. Well, maybe not that last one, but rugby is as tough as American football, but without helmets, pads, and multimillion dollar salaries. (Ironically, the team is sponsored by a UK insurance and risk management company, Bartlett Group.)

Here’s basically how it works in the International Rugby League:

The object of the game is to get the ball to the other end of the field (where you need to place it on the ground, a goal that gets you 4 points). That earns you the right to kick it for another 2 points. You can also kick it over the opposing goal for one point. The means by which you get there is a series of what in American football are “downs.” That’s where the kicking, running, tackling and blood happen. There are no quarterbacks with a rocket arm in this game—passing is done backwards or sideways so the player with the ball needs to stay a little ahead of his teammates. And the game lasts for 80 minutes, 40 minutes a side.

“Unlike American football, where they rest between downs, in rugby it’s continuous play,” says Robinson. “We don’t rest at all.”

That means rugby players spend more time than their American football counterparts using the cardiovascular machines at the gym, as opposed to the weights. “American footballers are big athletes, but big guys have a tougher time in rugby, you really need to be cardiovascularly fit,” Robinson explains.

Many of his players get plenty of running practice while training for their semi-pro teams. For example, Brendan Guilfoyle, team captain, plays for the Treaty City Titans in Limerick City, as do four other Wolfhounds. Some play for British teams, like the West London Sharks and Northampton Demons. Their opponents are, appropriately, multicultural, with four players from Hawaii, a New York player of Tongan descent, Salesi Tongamoa, and a team captain named Apple Pope from Florida. (Interesting side note: Pope, who has played in Australia, has two brothers, Taco and Pepci. His mother, Chili, has siblings named Peper and Cofi. It’s a long story, involving a grandmother named “Pork.” You can’t make this stuff up.)

Promoters are expecting an exciting game from two teams made up of some of the cream of the rugby crop and some up-and-comers. Fans can expect 80 minutes of pure unadulterated action. You’d be crazy not to go. About as crazy as they are to play a game where one of the most popular t-shirts reads, “Give blood. Play Rugby.”

March 18, 2011 by
News

How I Was Irish in Philadelphia On St. Patrick’s Day

Hope your St. Patrick's Day was as joyous as hers.

I thought I was doing good until I heard about one group of friends who had vowed to party from dawn to dawn on St. Patrick’s Day—and did it. By that measure, my St. Paddy’s day was for wimps. Here’s how it went:

8 AM: Got to the Plough and the Stars on Second Street for Philadelphia Judge Jimmy Lynn’s annual St. Patrick’s Day breakfast. I got no breakfast but snapped a lot of pictures, met a lot of politicians and judges, and ran into an old friend I hadn’t seen in 30 years—Joe Grace, who is running for Philadelphia City Council.

10 AM: Hopped on a bus with a bunch of local AOHers to go to City Hall where Councilwoman Joan Krajewski (she’s half Irish) read a proclamation denouncing Spencer Gifts for their “derogatory” St. Patrick’s Day merchandise (got to see some examples—and we can’t show them here). Met up with the two rugby teams who are playing the Donnybrook Cup on Saturday—the USA Tomahawks and the Irish Wolfhounds of the International Rugby League, who were being honored by city council.

11 AM: The bus dropped us back at the Plough where we walked the block to Penns Landing for the annual wreath-laying and flag-raising ceremonies at the Irish Memorial, which was framed by a robin’s egg blue sky.

12 PM: I’m in FDR Park at Broad and Pattinson where the Irish Wolfhounds semi-pro rugby team is supposed to practice. The field is sopping but these are tough guys—imagine American football without helmets and padding—so they make do. It’s only a practice, but blood is drawn.

2 PM: They’re cleaning up the remains of lunch at the St. Patrick’s Day Party at the Irish Center in Mt. Airy (I help—I haven’t had anything to eat all day), so I hear a little music (from the Vince Gallagher Band) and enjoy a little camaraderie with the homies.

Now, I would have had dinner and listened to music (the McGillians) at the Glenside Pub had it been possible to wedge my way in there at 6:30 PM, but it would have taken a miracle to have parted those revelers who were spilling out on to the sidewalk. So my husband and I did the smart thing—we went to a Jewish restaurant. We had no trouble finding a seat, then noticed that. . .everyone was wearing green. So it’s true—on St. Patrick’s Day, everyone is Irish.

Of course, I took photos wherever I went and here they are.

 

 

March 18, 2011 by
News

Philadelphia Parade Video Highlights

The map of Ireland

Wherever there’s a mummer strutting up the Parkway, we’ll be there. Wherever there’s a jig playing so kids in curly wigs can dance, we’ll be there. We’ll be everywhere—everywhere you look.

We were there at the beginning of the 2011 Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Parade when the Emerald pipers marched past playing “Minstrel Boy” at 16th and JFK, and we were there at the end when the beer truck rolled by. (We’ve always thought that was a happy ending.)

It’s hard to take a parade that goes on for a few hours and boil it all down to its shamrocky essence. That didn’t stop us from trying. Oh, sure, the people at CBS3 showed the whole thing. But they’ve got, you know, cameras and helicopters and stuff.

Anyway, we did the best we could to capture as many of you as we could. We hope this all looks as fun for you as it was for us.

March 18, 2011 by
News

How to Be Irish on the Web

At this time of year, a lot of us are celebrating our Irishness in the real world by doing perfectly insane things like tossing back Guinnesses at 8 o’clock in the morning or dying our hair green. And maybe we should let that be a lesson to us all: on St. Patrick’s Day, the real world can be a scary place.

Permit me, then, to suggest a less frightening alternative. If you want to honor your Hibernian roots but avoid the green beer, the sloppy amateur drunks and the annual ceremonial mauling of “Danny Boy,” consider a visit to the virtual world. If you want to unleash your inner Paddy … yep, there’s an app for that.

Here’s a random selection of Irish-themed Web sites to start you on your way.

Ice Cream Ireland
It’s equal parts mouth-watering recipes and small-town Ireland news. icecreamireland.com is easily one of the most appealing Irish Web sites.

Kieran Murphy is the editor. He’s also a director of Murphy’s Ice Cream in Dingle, County Kerry.
Murphy is an engaging writer, and he writes often and on a wide range of subjects. Most of his posts celebrate food, especially ice cream, chocolate and other treats. But he’s also a one-man chamber of commerce, extolling the virtues of everyday life in Ireland’s scenic southwest. A recent sampler of stories: a recipe for a cool, minty St. Patrick’s Day milkshake, a dispatch from an ice cream convention (sign me up), and an unashamedly promotional piece boosting the Dingle Walking Festival.

Murphy is also a very good food stylist. He frequently illustrates his recipes―and icecreamireland.com is a treasure trove of mouthwatering recipes―with eye-popping photography so good, you can almost taste the berry tarts.

Give it a taste.

The Daily Spud
Here’s another superb (and superbly silly) food blog from Ireland―or, as the author notes, “the spiritual home of the potato.” Silly this site may be, but there’s nothing half-baked about the Daily Spud.

Like icecreamireland.com, the Daily Spud shares recipes―and not surprisingly, many are recipes for potatoes. Visit this site, and you can learn to prepare the otherwise pedestrian potato in seemingly endless iterations―for example, Colcannon potato cakes, savoury potato crepes, and potato empanadas.

But there’s much more than meets the eye about this Spud. You’ll find many recipes in which the potato does not occupy center stage―like Thai-style curry with straw mushrooms, smoked salmon with Connemara whiskey, and roasted aubergine soup.

The Spud is endlessly entertaining as well, turning cute little phrases like this one: Ooh, bacon & eggs, me favourite. Rashers ahoy!

Irish Central
Irish Central presents a national and, at times, global look at Irish and Irish-American news. The site covers a range of issues, from the plight of the undocumented Irish to Justin Bieber’s fervent hope to one day perform a duet with U2. (Fat chance, we hope.)

Irishsayings.com
It’s not the most extensive Web site about the Irish language, but it has two big things going for it. First, it offers phonetic spellings of Irish words and phrases. A language Web site―any language Web site―is not particularly useful unless it provides a guide to pronunciation. Second, and even better, irishsayings.com offers sound files, so you can also hear the words and phrases. So the next time you want to employ that always useful Irish phrase, Póg mo thóin, you’ll know exactly where to go.

ClareFM
One of my close friends in the Irish traditional music community tipped me off to this one.

Clare FM is a very popular local radio station in Ireland’s West. You can listen live at any time, or tune into the station’s many podcasts. You never know what you might hear. It could be John Ryan’s show featuring music, news and local info. (Including traffic reports. You expect half of them to involve sheep.) Or you might dial up John Cooke’s news and current affairs program Morning Focus. (Regular features include a segment on bird watching.)

The site also features the always entertaining Community Diary. Among the recent community announcements: News of a supervised St. Patrick’s youth disco in the Auburn Lodge hotel, organized by Clare Camogie Board. (Camogie is the women’s version of hurling―one of the most vicious and entertaining sports on the planet.)

But what really lured me to Clare FM was its traditional Irish music programming. It’s among the truest and the best, featuring the show “The West Wind,” presenting Irish music from the source―much of it live. The presenters really know their stuff, and they often bring otherwise unheralded local Irish musicians into the studio for up close and personal interviews. They broadcast live from major Irish music events, like the Willie Clancy Festival and the Ennis Trad Festival. The station maintains a robust archive of the trad shows, in case you missed something.

The Leprechaun Watch
It’s a not-so-scientific study of the Irish supernatural, and you can take part in it.

In the Glen of Cloongallon in Tipperary, the folks at irelandseye.com have set up a webcam in a hidden location. The camera is focused on a section of the field very near an ancient fairy ring.

You can log onto the site at any time and see what’s happening in this enchanted area. If you have a sharp eye, you just might spot a leprechaun. Maybe a fairy or (saints preserve us) a banshee.

Also on the site, you can view a video panorama of the Glen, send an e-card, or even print out a certificate identifying yourself as a genuine leprechaun watcher.

Help! The Faerie Folk Hid My Ancestors
This is the genealogy blog of local former prosecutor and veteran family history rooter-outer Deborah Large Fox. It’s one of Family Tree Magazine’s Top 40 Genealogy Blogs of 2011.

Fox really knows where the bodies are buried. Want to know the best online sources for searching out your Irish ancestors? Looking for the latest update on the release of the 1926 Irish Census? Crave instant access to photos of headstones from the Toomna Graveyard? Fox offers this, and much, much more.

Fox is also a popular lecturer on a variety of topics relating to Irish genealogy, featuring valuable tips for both beginners and more advanced searchers. (For example: How to Use the U.S. Census as a GPS/Genealogical Positioning System). There’s a page on the site listing her topics.

Fox is also a very good friend of irishphiladelphia.com. (Read our interview.)

Of course, there’s always irishphiladelphia.com to guide you in your quest for Quaker City Irishness. (Full disclosure: Whorishly self-promotional message.) So limber up your mouse finger, and get surfing.

March 17, 2011 by
News, People

Philadelphia Goes Green

The kids from St. Denis School in Havertown showed their spirit. They were a sea of green.

It didn’t rain, it was brisk but not bone-chilling cold, and there was even an occasional glimmer of sun. If you were in Philadelphia on Sunday, March 13, for the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, you couldn’t help but think that it was a good day to be Irish.

I had a different vantage point for this year’s parade. I was in it as a member of the St. Patrick’s Ring of Honor, a group traditionally chosen by the president of the Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Observance Association. This year, that’s Kathy McGee Burns.

It’s the first time I’ve marched (unless you count walking alongside from beginning to end taking pictures) so it gave me plenty of time to check out the crowds and take pictures of the smiling faces and the inventive ways people expressed their Irishness. One woman had a necklace with faux potatoes and a fake cabbage hanging around her neck and was wearing pointy-toed leprechaun shoes. Note to parade organizers: There should be an award given by the marchers for wildest costume in the crowd every year. Let’s make it retroactive and track this woman down.

If I ever march again, I absolutely want to be in the line of march before a group of nuns. We had the Sisters of Mercy behind us, celebrating their 150th year in Philadelphia. We Ring people were feeling the love when people cheered as we passed by, but once we heard, “Look, it’s Sister Christine!” and “Hi, Sister Marian!” we knew the only thing we were getting from the crowd were polite but perplexed smiles. We could almost see the “Who the heck are they anyway?” thought balloons above their heads. But at least they smiled—and all the kids waved.

We had three photographers out there–Jeff Meade, Gwyneth MacArthur and me–and while we didn’t catch all 200 organizations walking JFK and the Parkway, we did pretty well, we think, in capturing the spirit of the day in all those waves and smiles. Hope you think so too. Here’s what we saw:

Jeff’s set.

Gwyneth’s set.

Denise’s set.

Here are the parade winners as chosen by the panel of judges:

Hon. James H.J. Tate Award
(Founded 1980, this was named the Enright Award Prior to 1986)
Sponsored by: Michael Bradley & Mike Driscoll
Group that Best Exemplified the Spirit of the Parade

2011 Sisters of Mercy

Msgr. Thomas J. Rilley Award (Founded 1980)
Outstanding Fraternal Organization
Sponsored by: AOH Division 39, Msgr. Thomas J. Rilley

2011 Cairdeas Irish Brigade

George Costello Award (Founded 1980)
Organization with the Outstanding Float in the Parade
Sponsored by: The Irish Society

2011 Cavan Society

Hon. Vincent A. Carroll Award (Founded 1980)
Outstanding Musical Unit Excluding Grade School Bands:
Sponsored by: John Dougherty Local 98

2011 Philadelphia Police & Fire, Pipes & Drum Band

Anthony J. Ryan Award (Founded 1990)
Outstanding Grade School Band
Sponsored by: The Ryan Family

2011 Hartford Magnet Middle School Marching Band

Walter Garvin Award (Founded 1993)
Outstanding Children’s Irish Dance Group
Sponsored by: Walter Garvin Jr.

2011 Cummins School of Irish Dance

Marie C. Burns Award (Founded 2003)
Outstanding Adult Dance Group
Sponsored by: Philadelphia Emerald Society

2011 Crossroads School of Irish Dancing

Joseph E. Montgomery Award (Founded 2006)
Outstanding AOH and/or LAOH Divisions
Sponsored by: AOH Div. 65 Joseph E. Montgomery

2011 AOH & LAOH Division 51 Fishtown

Joseph J. “Banjo” McCoy Award (Founded 2006)
Outstanding Fraternal Organization
Sponsored by: Schuylkill Irish Society

2011 St. James Alumni Association Choir

James F. Cawley Parade Director’s Award (Founded 2006)
Outstanding Organization selected by the Parade Director.
Sponsored by: AOH Division 87 Port Richmond

2011 2nd Street Irish Society

Father Kevin C. Trautner Award (Founded 2008)
Outstanding School or Religious Organization that displays their Irish Heritage while promoting Christian Values
Sponsored by: Kathy McGee Burns

2011 St. Denis School

Maureen McDade McGrory Award (Founded 2008)
Outstanding Children’s Irish Dance Group Exemplifying the Spirit of Irish Culture through Traditional Dance.
Sponsored by:  McDade School of Irish Dance

2011 Christina Ryan Kilcoyne School of Irish Dance

James P. “Jim” Kilgallen Award (Founded 2011)
Outstanding organization that best exemplifies the preservation of Irish-American unity through charitable endeavors to assist those less fortunate at home and abroad.
Sponsored by:  Michael Bradley

2011 AOH Division 1 Dennis Kelly      (First year for this award)

March 15, 2011 by
News

How They Celebrated in Delco

Walking tall in Springfield.

Walking tall in Springfield.

In this most Irish of Pennsylvania counties–make that, counties anywhere–they really know how to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Their parade is one of the great old hometown traditions, and the people come out for it in very respectable numbers.

If you were there, then maybe you’ll see yourself in this photo essay by Bob Fogarty. If you weren’t there, here’s what you missed.

March 15, 2011 by