News, People

Philadelphia’s Parade Grand Marshal Redefines “Family”

Kathy McGee Burns

Kathy McGee Burns

“I’m bored with my story,” Kathy McGee Burns tells me as she settles down on a chair in front of her fireplace, where a gas fire leaps and dances. “You’re probably bored with my story too,” she laughs. She’s wearing a black and white dress with a commanding statement necklace of silver and pearlized globes the size of ping pong balls around her neck. “Like it?” she asks. “I was wearing it the other night at a meeting when I was introduced as ‘the shy’ Kathy McGee Burns. And I stood up and said, ‘Yes, I’m shy.’” She laughs again.

“Shy” is last adjective anyone would ever use to describe Kathy McGee Burns. And boring? Never. But over the past few years, as she racked up honor after honor—president of the Donegal Association, president of the Irish Memorial, president of the St. Patrick’s Day Observance Association, president of the Delaware Valley Irish Hall of Fame, board member of the Duffy’s Cut Project, the Claddagh Fund, and St. Malachy’s School—she’s had to tell her story again and again to reporters, including me. And now, as the Grand Marshal of the Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Parade—only the fourth woman since 1952 to receive that honor—Kathy McGee Burns has other things on her mind.

She suspects she was chosen GM this year because she is the mother of nine children and the theme of the parade is “St. Patrick, Bless, Strengthen and Pray for our Families,” appropriate for the year when Pope Francis will visit the city for the 2015 World Meeting of Families, a Catholic Church event held every three years. “I love and I’m proud of all my children, but I don’t want to just be known as the mother of nine children,” says the 78-year-old, who is a fulltime realtor.

For Kathy, “family” means more than the children she raised—for a few years supporting seven of them as a single mother on $100 a week—in the little house in Lafayette Hill where she’s lived for decades. But some of the story deserves a recap: She was a teen bride who had six children under the age of four—including a set of twins–by the time she was 20, and went on to have three more, the last two with her second husband, Mike Burns.

And despite her early start at motherhood. Kathy McGee Burns has nevertheless earned a berth in the Late Bloomers Hall of Fame—where, if past performance is predictive, she’ll wind up as its president. She enrolled in college when she was pregnant with her eighth child. It took her 16 years to graduate—she has a bachelor’s degree in history from Chestnut Hill College – and she attended Temple University Law School.

She also came late to her Irish heritage, though once she found it, it led her to a much deeper understanding of what “family” means.

Like many Irish Americans of a certain era, her father, Timothy Francis Aloysius McGee, a wholesale florist born in Philadelphia’s Swampoodle neighborhood, spoke little about his ancestry, though he unconsciously carried it on.

“I was baptized Mary Kathleen,” says Kathy. “I would always get teased. ‘Do you think you’re Irish?’ We were the only Irish family living in Flourtown, which is where my father settled. Like a lot of Irish people, he always wanted something better for his family. But in those days it really wasn’t popular to be Irish. I just wanted to be Kathy with an ‘i,’ which is what I was until I changed it to ‘y.’ “

Her father, she says, “always saw potential in me, always made me think I could do anything and be anything,” and pushed her to want more for herself. “I wanted to go to Springfield High School but he gave me two choices: I could go to Little Flower, which was two buses and a trolley, or I could go to Mount St. Joseph, which was within walking distance.”

She chose the Mount where she was, by her own account, “a controversial student.

“I questioned a lot of things,” she explains. “I was always rebelling against wearing the uniform. I always had a rip in it somewhere so I could wear street clothes–until Mother Superior caught on. I was asked to leave several times, but my father supplied all the flowers to the St. Joseph’s nuns, so. . . .” She grins.

She was 50 before she learned that her father’s family came from Donegal.
On his deathbed, her father gave her the only clue he had to their heritage. “He said, ‘Kath, you want to know where you’re from? We’re related to every McGee in Bridgeport.’” So she wrote to every McGee in Bridgeport, a little river town across from Norristown, until she found a woman, likely a cousin, who gave her an even slimmer clue: a song she’d heard her parents sing, “We come from Donegal where they eat potatoes skin and all.” “That’s all I needed, I joined the Donegal Society,” Kathy laughs.

And other organizations followed. She not only joined, but said yes to every task that was offered and ultimately came to head most of them. And with each one, she fell deeper in love with her heritage and more determined to find out where her McGees had come from. “When I walked into the Irish Center for the first time, I felt like I had come home,” she says. “The more I learned, the more I felt my family around me. I still think they’re around me all the time, pushing me in the right direction.”

It was her family, she says, that drew her to St. Malachy’s School in North Philadelphia, the celebrated K-8 parochial school whose graduates—most of them non-Catholics from the impoverished city neighborhood just off Broad Street—go on to higher education in larger numbers that most other city schools. She now sits on their board and helps raise money to keep this independent mission school, glowing as “a beacon of hope,” as it’s often called.

“St. Malachy’s is the parish where my grandmother, Mary Josephine Callahan, was born, baptized, confirmed and married. Her parents were Timothy Callahan and Bridget Clancy and she went to St. Malachy’s with her six sisters. She married Hughie McGee, my grandfather. I never met her, but I knew I got involved there because she made me.”

Likewise, when she was chosen to be Grand Marshal of the Donegal Association’s 125th Ball a year ago, her penchant for history led her to discover a family connection with the organization. “You know the money collected by the Ball is used for charity the whole year so I wondered what they’d raised money for that first year,” she says. “After that first ball, they donated money to a Father James McFadden, the parish priest in Gweedore.”

By this time, Kathy had traced her family back to this coastal town near the Bloody Foreland that was devastated during the Great Hunger, largely because they had been turned out of their homes for nonpayment of rent. Landlords had set rents at gouging prices largely, say historical records, to evict the Irish farmers from lands that could be more profitably used for livestock grazing by English and Scottish landlords. Father McFadden was a priest in the mold of the activist priests of the 1960s: Outspoken, he was the head of the National Land League which sought to reduce the outrageous rents levied by the largely absentee landlords in England and organized a boycott which resulted in his imprisonment for six months.

In February 1889, he was just finishing up Mass at St. Mary’s Church when a detective inspector came to the church to arrest him for encouraging parishioners to resist evictions. “One of my ancestors, Conal McGee, went to prison for his part in defending Father McFadden as they tried to pull him off the altar,” says Kathy. “That made being Grand Marshal of the Ball so meaningful to me. I believe,” she says, “that the spirits of our ancestors call us to them.”

It’s why she thinks she became so emotionally entangled with the story of Duffy’s Cut, the deaths of 57 Irish immigrants working on the Pennsylvania Railroad in Malvern in 1832. She shows me two small rusty nails she keeps in a bowl in her sitting room. They came from the coffin of John Ruddy, the 18-year-old Donegal immigrant who was one of the 57 victims, scholars now believe, of both cholera and religious intolerance that led to murder. Ruddy’s was the only body that was able to be identified because of his age, ship records, and a dental anomaly found in a Ruddy family from Inishowen in County Donegal.

Kathy helped pay for John Ruddy’s remains to be shipped to Donegal to be buried in his home soil and visited his grave in Ardara when she was in Donegal two years ago. Dr. William Watson, the Immaculata professor who helped locate the Duffy’s Cut remains and keep their memory alive, gave her the nails in thanks for her help in returning John Ruddy home.

“I just know that one of those people is related to me,” she says with conviction. “How else would I have been so drawn to them. Bill Watson talks about how he and his brother [Frank] were drawn to the story and so dedicated to finding them. I was drawn too.”

And family was on her mind in 2011 when, in her first year as president of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade committee, she stood at the lectern at St. Patrick’s Church Philadelphia during the pre-parade Mass and looked out at the audience. There, in the first few rows, were her children, grandchildren and siblings, but also her Donegal family, the McGees of Gweedore, found at last and confirmed through DNA testing. They included patriarch Hugh McGee, to whom she introduced her brother Hugh and his son, Hugh—all known as Hughie. There in spirit, her grandfather and her father’s brother, both Hughie (Her Gweedore cousin “looks just like my Uncle Hughie,” she says) and, of course, her father.

“While I was standing there, I found myself talking to my father. I know I’m going to cry as I say this.” Her hand goes to her eyes where the first tears are starting to well. “I said, ‘Dad, look at me. How did I get here?’ Whenever someone has a big accomplishment in our family, we all say the same thing: ‘I wish Pop-Pop was here to see this.’ I wish he had been there, though I think he was.”

And she expects him to be with her on Sunday, March 15, when she watches the St. Patrick’s Day Parade from the Grand Marshal’s seat overlooking the performing area near Eakins Oval on the Parkway. “This honor, this is the biggest thing that has ever happened to me,” she says. “I know he would be proud of me.”

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A Message from Kathy McGee Burns’ Family in Ireland
The news that our own Kathy Mc Gee Burns has been selected as Grand Marshal for the Saint Patrick’s day parade in Philadelphia for 2015 has been received with great excitement and pride by her extended family in Donegal. Kathy has been doing Trojan work since 1986 for the Irish diaspora in Philadelphia. Her relations from Donegal are very excited about Kathy’s achievement. The McGee family from Carrick, Gweedore believe that her selection as Grand Marshal is a very historic moment for the extended family. They wish Kathy and her family all the best and the Mc Gees from Gweedore hope to be part of the parade on this very special day.

What Others Have to Say About Kathy McGee Burns

The Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Observance Association received dozens of letters nominating Kathy McGee Burns as the parade Grand Marshal. Here are excerpt from a few:

“At the Mount we believe we are in the business of training our young women to be leaders. Kathy is a fine example of our mission which states, ‘On the education of women largely depends the future of society.’ Throughout her personal and professional career, Kathy has demonstrated faithfulness to the Irish community that is to be admired.”
Sister Kathleen Brabson, SSJ
President
Mount Saint Joseph Academy

“I have had the privilege of working with Kathy on several boards and have always been inspired by her unwavering commitment to success for every organization she chooses to serve. Her enthusiasm and her love for all things Irish in the Philadelphia community are truly second to none.”
Bill Donohue
President
Sons and Daughters of Derry

“There is an old adage that says: If you want something done, ask a busy woman or man. I don’t know how Kathy has managed all that she has done while at the same time raising a large family.”
[The late] Joseph E. Montgomery
AOH Div. 65

“. . .Everyone who knows Kathy feels the same way about her—that her love and commitment to the Irish community as a leader, a friend, and a mentor is simply amazing.”
Kathleen Sullivan
President
Irish Memorial Board

“Kathy is a good friend and willing mentor, generous with her time, experience, and advice. Her support was invaluable as I was trying to find my feet in our community and I am deeply grateful for her continued support of my work at the Immigration Center. Kathy is a strong role model for women in our community and has helped pave the way for many younger women to get involved. . . .[Kathy’s] enthusiasm for all things Irish is infectious and allows her to draw people from all walks of life into causes that she cares about, and the Parade is no exception.”
Siobhan Lyons
Executive Director
Irish Immigration Center of Greater Philadelphia

“One doesn’t achieve success in our business like Kathy McGee Burns without extraordinary dedication and passion. Kathy has such dedication, not only in her profession of helping people find the home of their dreams and her unwavering loyalty to our company over the years, but also an exceptional passion for her Irish heritage.”
Lawrence F. Flick IV
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Fox & Roach Realtors
Berkshire Hathaway

“I cannot imagine a more worthy selection for Grand Marshal. Her passion and dedication for both her Irish heritage and this parade have always been infectious among our family and friends. I’ve seen it firsthand, as two of my closest friends, who had no previous ties to the event whatsoever, became ardent parade followers and attendees after one conservation with “Grammy” about what it means to be Irish. That may be the most extreme example, but it is hardly the only one.

The commitment to her roots is only exceeded by the one to our large family, within which she has maintained matriarch status for as long as I can remember. To me, it truly isn’t a family function until she is there. Her ability to juggle all of these responsibilities is made possible by one simple thing. She has to be the youngest 78-year-old on Earth, which is just another reason she makes such a great ambassador for the parade and the Irish community of Philadelphia. “

Alexander Lee
Grandson

January 29, 2015 by
People

Meet the Montco Parade’s 2015 Grand Marshal

Kelley and Mick McBride

Kelley and Mick McBride

Mick McBride arrived in Roxborough from Kilmacrennan, County Donegal, by way of London, liked what he saw, and stayed.

That was in 1990. Long since married to a lovely girl from Abington named Kelley, and the father of three kids, he doesn’t regret a moment. For McBride, America truly has been the land of opportunity. He owns a busy exterior plastering outfit in Plymouth Meeting, where he and his family live.

He’s proud to say he’s an American citizen, and if you want to know what motivated him, all you have to know is this date: September 11, 2001.

“I was always thinking about it, yes, and never getting around to it, but that inspired me,” he recalls in the distinctive accent of Ireland’s Northwest, where every declarative sentence ends on interrogative up note. The terrorist attacks on that day “I just felt hurt. I didn’t like what happened. It pissed me off, y’know? I was sworn in 2002.”

Those who have come to know McBride over the years recognize him for the generous soul that he is, a genuine “shirt off his own back” kind of guy, a friend to everyone, self-effacing, glad to be an American but equally grateful to be a native Irishman. A burly guy with a big hands and a brushy mustache, he pours a lot of himself into Ancient Order of Hibernians Notre Dame Division 1 in Swedesburg, Montgomery County, where he has been a member since about the same time he decided to become a citizen.

Now, the guy who gives so much is getting something in return. Mick McBride is the 2015 Montgomery County St. Patrick’s Day Parade grand marshal.

“I found out about it at Members Appreciation Night here at the hall,” he says. When they announced his name, “I was floored. I know there were a lot of good candidates. It’s a great honor, obviously. I thank my wife. I couldn’t do anything here without her by my side.”

Not a bad accomplishment for a boy from Kilmacrennan who came to America to find work, and who decided to make it his new home.

A friend, onetime Kilmacrennan neighbor and Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) footballer, James Brady, lived in Roxborough at the time, and invited him over.

“I left school when I was 16,” he says, “and then I learned interior and exterior plastering. I left Ireland when I was 20. I went to London in 1986 to seek employment. I stayed there for four years. In 1990, I came over to visit—kind of a vacation, like, but James had me set up before I even set foot on the plane. I got a six-month visa, and I liked it so much I stayed.”

Ultimately, he got his green card on a Donnelly visa, named for Congressman Bill Donnelly who proposed the bill that created the new visas.

What appealed?

Well, for one, warmer climes. “I came in June. It was hot, though, but I liked the weather.”

Another reason: the Philly GAA. At the time, the local Donegal team was playing exceptionally well and went to Chicago for the North American championship. “The Irish contingent was all in Upper Darby. I knew a lot of them. My friend was the team goalkeeper—and they won.

Yet another: Better money for the work he was doing.

Finally, as if McBride needed any additional motivation to stick around, one more walked into his life.

“I met Kelley at a Wolfe Tones concert in 1992 in Springfield. She was at the concert. I didn’t know her. A friend of mine introduced us. She was very pretty; her personality was the nicest I’ve ever met. She played hard to get—‘Watch those Irish guys,’ her grandmother always told her’—but after several phone calls, she agreed to go out. We dated a little over two years, and got married in 1994.”

After that, along came the kids, and after years of working for another contractor, he started his own exterior plastering business, McBride Plastering, Inc. Gradually, he became more and more integrated into life in the States, helped along, perhaps, by the fact that he made friends so easily.

It was one of those friends who kept trying to persuade him to join the AOH in Swedesburg. After six months of prodding, he gave in.

“I came over here and liked it,” he said. “I couldn’t believe there was a bar in the basement. They said, ‘You’re Irish, you gotta join. The next thing I know, a form was shoved in my face.”

He loved it from the start, he says.

McBride went on to endear himself to the division by joining its pipe band, Irish Thunder, which practiced in the first-floor meeting room, just above the bar, on Wednesday nights.

“I’d never played a note of music in my life,” he says. “I never heard of piping until I came to this club. I was sitting downstairs here at the bar and the next thing, I heard a ‘BRRRRRRR!’ from upstairs, and I said, ‘What’s that?’ I signed up.”

McBride remembers being one of 12 prospective pipers who sat down for lessons that first night. A year later, only two people were still there, nearing the point where they could join the band on the street. The other guy was Joe McGlinchey, who nominated his friend for grand marshal.

McGlinchey and McBride have been friends from the first night the big guy joined.

“He walked in the door, and you couldn’t help but love him, and then we joined the pipe band together. We really pushed each other. One week, I did bad, one week he did bad. I don’t know if I would be where I am now on the pipes without Mick.”

McGlinchey also admired McBride’s dedication to the AOH, all in, right from the start.

“He’s one of our biggest fund-raisers for our charities. Whatever charity comes up and we need to raise money, he gives 200 percent. He’s loved by everyone. I don’t think he has an enemy in the world.”

When McGlinchey wrote his letter nominating McBride, he had no idea, of course, how it would all turn out. As McBride says, there are always other great candidates. “You never know.”

When McBride was selected, McGlinchey was probably just as pleased.

“I was ecstatic,” McGlinchey says. “A better man couldn’t have been selected.”

January 23, 2015 by
Dance, Music

Kiss Me, I’m Sober

sstpdaySt. Patrick’s Day arrives, and it’s as if someone has uncorked a magic bottle, and the genie of booze appears in our midst, granting but one wish: the wish to become really, most sincerely drunk. Because that’s what the Irish do on St. Patrick’s Day do, right?

Well, there’s no escaping it—some do. But it’s pretty clear that you don’t need to be Irish to wander from bar to bar, wearing silly hats and draped with green beads. Many aren’t.

And it’s a big night for booze, as boozy nights go. According to the financial website The Motley Fool, St. Patrick’s Day accounts for up to 1 percent of annual beer sales in the United States.

The potential consequences of all that binge drinking are pretty serious. More than a third of all traffic fatalities on the saint’s day, especially into the evening and into the next morning—are associated with drunk driving.

Then, of course, there’s a problem near and dear to many Irish hearts—the perpetuation of a cultural stereotype that many find distasteful.

Well, Katherine Ball-Weir wants to shove that cork back into the bottle. So if you’re up for a party, and the thought of waking up the next morning with bed spins doesn’t appeal to you, she’d like to welcome you to Sober St. Patrick’s Day—an epic bash in the Hamilton Media Commons at WHYY studios on Independence Mall on Sunday, March 15. That’s the day of the Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day parade and the focal point of the city’s celebration.

“We’re bringing in incredible entertainment,” says Ball-Weir, chairperson of the Delaware Valley Branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, a worldwide Irish music, dance, language and cultural organization. “It’ll be a wonderful Irish party without any alcohol. There will be children’s activities. They can learn an Irish dance step or how to beat a bodhran (a traditional Irish frame drum) or how to say ‘hello’ or ‘goodbye’ in Irish Gaelic. There will be activities for adults, too.”

A lot of those activities revolve around music and dance, with some truly world-class entertainment—including seven-time All-Ireland button accordion champ John Whelan, four-time fiddle champion Dylan Foley, Patrick Hutchinson, an All-Ireland uilleann pipe champ.

Some young local All-Ireland champs will be on hand as well: The Converse Crew, fiddlers Alex Weir (Ball-Weir’s son) and Haley Richardson, Keegan Loesel on pipes and whistle, and Dylan Richardson on guitar.

If you want a workout, there will be ceili dancing. If you want to replenish all the calories you’ve lost pounding the boards, there will be plenty of baked goods, snacks and drinks—non-alcoholic, of course. Look for special guest Maria Walsh, the International Rose of Tralee and Philly’s Rose, and performances by the Emerald Isle Academy Dancers.

All of this alcohol-free merry-making is not a new idea, says Ball-Weir.

“It’s been a sold-put event in New York City for three years, and it’s in other cities, too. There’s one in Richmond, Va., Casper, Wyoming, Northern Ohio, and Belfast (Northern Ireland) had a huge one. I knew about the event in New York because I also knew some of the musicians who performed in it, and as I learned more about it, I thought: This is a great idea! So I went to Maureen Donachie, who is the number 2 person with the New York Sober St. Patrick’s Day group, and I said, I really like this idea. How can we do this in Philadelphia?”

With some thoughts and encouragement from Donachie, Ball-Weir presented the idea to the Philadelphia Comhaltas (COAL-tuss) board, and they loved it, too.

Presenting a big event like this is exactly up the organization’s alley.

“Although we are a small group, in the last couple of years our branch has been hosting and co-hosting more and more music events,” says Ball-Weir. “We have co-sponsored or helped to support events of the Philadelphia Ceili (KAY-lee) Group or the Coatesville Traditional Irish Music Series with Frank Dalton, and some events at West Chester University. It’s exciting for me to think about doing things with other groups. The best way for us all to succeed is for us to work together.”

In this case, the partnership is with Frank Daly of American Paddy’s Productions. “They produce the Philadelphia Fleadh and an American Celtic Christmas, among other things. I asked him to partner with us—Frank, specifically, because he and I had teamed up previously to present some Irish concerts and workshops—and he agreed. I couldn’t do it without him.”

Philly’s Comhaltas branch hopes the event will attract families with children, says, Ball-Weir, along with “adults who want to celebrate but not in an overindulgent way, and the third is the recovery community.”

Just because you won’t find Guinness or Jameson at this particular party, Ball-Weir says, doesn’t mean Comhaltas is against drinking, but they are against the binge drinking rampant on St. Patrick’s Day.

As the mother of a one-time Irish dancer, she knows what she’s talking about.

“Alexander was an Irish dancer before he was an Irish fiddler. We went to a lot of pubs on St. Patrick’s Day, where the dance schools would dance, and it was just awful. The bars start serving drinks at the same time they put out breakfast, so a lot of people are totally out of it by the end of the day. These are stupid Americans who are looking for an excuse to get drunk. They hang their hat on St. Patrick’s Day.”

Ball-Weir and her organization want to open Irish eyes to a more authentic celebration, one that hangs its hat on only two things: Ireland and Irish culture.

“This event is basically for anyone who wants to celebrate Irish culture in an environment that will be respectful of Ireland and its culture. It’s a new way to reclaim the day.”

For details and tickets to the event, hosted by WHYY’s Ed Cunningham:

http://www.soberstpatricksday.org/Philadelphia.html

The event starts at 4 p.m., and ends at 7.

 

January 23, 2015 by
How to Be Irish in Philly

How To Be Irish In Philly This Week

The East Coast Celtic Feile starts on Friday!

The East Coast Celtic Feile starts on Friday!

At Irish Philadelphia, we always consider our Scottish cousins part of the fold. Hence, we’re telling you about the Burns Night (that would be the Scottish poet Robert Burns) Supper and whisky tasting upstairs at the World Café Live on Saturday night.

Music will be provided by the Jameson Sisters, who usually play Irish music (Terry Kane on all kinds of instruments, Ellen Tepper on harp, both singing). On the menu: haggis. But don’t let that hold you back. It tastes like liver. If you like liver, you’ll like haggis. If not, just shunt it to the side of your plate and try some more whisky.

Robert Burns’ birthday is actually Sunday, so there’s still time to send a card.

Also on Saturday, Jamison is performing at 9:30 at Curran’s Irish Inn in Tacony.

On Sunday, Father Ed Brady, pastor of St. Anne’s Parish in Philadelphia, will be celebrating a Mass in commemoration of the 13 people who were killed during a peaceful protest in Derry more than 30 years ago, an event known as Bloody Sunday. A meal will follow after the Mass at the Irish Center. The event is sponsored every year by the Sons and Daughters of Derry, a Philadelphia county organization.

On Sunday evening, the redoubtable musician and comic Seamus Kennedy will be on stage at the Sellersville Theatre with Toby Walker, a roots music finger style guitar wizard.

On Wednesday, musician Gerry Timlin continues his Irish history classes at McCarthy’s Red Stag Pub in Bethlehem. This week: The conquest of Ireland. That could be a two-parter, and in fact it is. The next class is on February 4.

Starting on Friday, the wild and crazy supporters of the Celtic Football Club of Glasgow will descend on Philadelphia for music, ceremony (at the Irish Memorial), movie-watching (a special film on their team) and, of course, football—Celtic v. the Rangers on the big screen at The Plough and the Stars. These folks have a great time when they’re here—and all are invited.

Some sad news for musicians and the appreciative audience at the Molly Maguire’s session in Lansdale: Molly Maguire’s has closed its doors, the second of the small local chain to do so in the past few months (the other was in Downingtown). The Molly Maguire’s in Phoenixville is still open.

January 23, 2015 by
Sports

Celtic Supporters Get Ready to Rumble

ploughboys-homepage

Super Bowl? What’s the Super Bowl compared to a match-up between Glasgow’s legendary Celtic Football Club and the Rangers? Now, that’s super.

OK, so it’s the Sevco Rangers, not quite the Rangers team that has been Celtic’s nemesis since the dawn of time, but no matter. It’s a big deal. And if you don’t think so, show up at the Plough and Stars in Old City on Sunday, February 1, at 8:30 in the morning. The game will start at 1:30 in Scotland, so Celtic fans will be up early.

And thanks to the ardent Philly fan group, the 2nd Street Plough Bhoys CSC, there will be a lot of them. A lot, as in hundreds. And not just on Sunday, when the game will be displayed on a giant screen, but the whole weekend, in an event billed as the East Coast Celtic Supporters’ Féile. Féile is a Gaelic word meaning “festival,” but in this case the word seems somehow insufficient.

“This place will be bouncing from Friday through the whole weekend,” said Seamus Cummins, Plough Bhoys spokesman, chatting over beers at the Plough last Sunday along with several other members of the club. “This is our second year. Last year, we had 300, and they came from everywhere. This place was rocking.”

Fellow Plough Bhoy Mairtin O’Braidaigh still seems surprised at that year’s turnout. “We thought we’d bring in people from New York,” he said. Somehow or other members of clubs from around the country came. And from out of the country, too, including Scotland. “We had people drive down from Canada. They left at 4 a.m., and arrived here at 6 p.m. Some people, we didn’t even know were coming. They just came.”

Some of those who joined in the Celtic mania didn’t know that’s what they were joining. Plough Bhoy William “Fitz” Fitzgerald remembers. “People came in off the street, and they were just having a great time. There was just laughter all the time.”

Cummins expects even more fans this time around.

“We expect people to come from Ontario,” he said, “and Detroit, Athens, Ga., the Bronx, Boston, North Jersey, D.C., South Carolina, and Ohio. There will be people who will cross the Atlantic. We call it the Celtic family … and it really is a family.”

One of the highlights of this year, he said, is the premiere of “The Asterisk Years,” a film by author Paul Larkin, documenting the alleged decade-long financial shenanigans by the Rangers organization that many insist cheated Celtic out of titles.

(Highlights of the weekend’s schedule is below.)

The Plough Bhoys are thrilled that this year’s Féile just happens to coincide with a Celtic-Rangers match-up.

“We set this date back in June or July,” Cummins said with something approaching glee in his voice. “We thought the game was going to be against Kilmarnock, just a regular game. But the stars aligned, and we drew our ancient rival. This will be the first time we’ve played a team named the Rangers in three years. We should give them a right hammering. That’ll really kick the party into overdrive.”

Some party it will be.

And, oh, yeah, if you’re interested, there’s some inconsequential little American football game later in the day.

Friday, January 30
4-6 p.m. – The welcoming of the Celtic Family. Celtic Supporters from all over North America will begin to arrive for the Féile weekend. Please bring your club’s banner to be proudly hung in the pub.
7 p.m. – Live Irish/Celtic Music by Jamison’s, John O’Callaghan

Saturday, January 31
11 a.m. – Blessing of the Celtic Family at the National An Gorta Mor Memorial by Father Edward Bradley
1 p.m. – The USA Premier of Paul Larkin’s, “The Asterisk Years”
2:30 p.m. – Q&A Following the film by Paul Larkin, Hosted by Graham Wilson of the The Beyond The Waves Celtic Show
4-7 p.m. – Live Irish/Celtic Music by Ardboe, County Tyrone’s own, Raymond Coleman
7-10 p.m. – Live Irish/Celtic Music by The Bogside Rogues

Sunday, February 1
8:30 a.m. – The first-ever meeting between Celtic & The *Rangers 2012 in the League Cup Semi-Final
12 p.m.  until Kick off of Super Bowl XLIX – Traditional Irish Music Session

Keep up to date on Twitter, official hash tag #celticphillyfeile15

January 16, 2015 by
News

Dedicating the New Mural at Marty Magee’s

muraldedication-home

“I knew this would be no ordinary mural,” said artist Eric Okdeh as he looked across a freezing parking lot to the side wall of Marty Magee’s pub on Route 420 in Prospect Park.

More than 100 people who came on Saturday for the dedication of Okdeh’s masterwork, depicting scenes from Irish history, apparently agreed. Bundled up in heavy coats, scarves, mittens and hats, they disregarded the cold and took it all in. It’s a lot to take in. Most seemed enraptured by it.

Commodore Barry, Michael Collins, the immigrant railroad workers of Duffy’s Cut, the Molly Maguires and more—they all grace the side of the pub in a theme that, if you look at it carefully, artfully blends in the green, white and gold colors of the Irish flag.

Owner Joe Magee had suggested some slightly more in-your-face rebel themes, Okdeh kidded, “but I said, ‘We can’t do that—we’ll scare everyone away.'”

Okdeh, Magee and Prospect Park Mayor Jeff Harris presided over the brief ceremony, with Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Parade Director Michael Bradley as emcee.

After the dedication, the crowd filed into Magee’s bar to warm up with a drink or two, and to celebrate the occasion with music from Blackthorn, and guests from several other area Irish bands.

We have the pics.

[flickr_set id=”72157648005095913″]

January 16, 2015 by
How to Be Irish in Philly

How to Be Irish in Philly This Week

Barleyjuice

Barleyjuice

It may be cold outside, but this Friday, the wild and raucous Irish rockers Barleyjuice will be heating up the inside of the Sellersville Theater. You won’t be able to sit still in your seat—not that sitting still is really encouraged at a Barleyjuice concert.

On Wednesday, January 21, Tyrone-born musician Gerry Timlin continues his Irish history series at McCarthy’s Red Stage Pub in Bethlehem. The topics this week: the Viking Wars, the age of Brian Boru and Ireland before the Normans.

Also on Friday, Bob Hurst of the Bogside Rogues will be performing at AOH Div. 61 Clubhouse on Rhawn Street in Philadelphia and Jamison will be playing at the 360 Lounge at Parx Casino in Bensalem. (Catch them on January 24 at Curran’s Irish Inn in Tacony.)

There are plenty of sessions in between events this week. Check our calendar for more information.

January 16, 2015 by
How to Be Irish in Philly

How To Be Irish in Philly This Week

One big check--but the Irish Center needs more.

One big check–but the Irish Center needs more.

The Irish Center’s fundraising campaign brought in more than $84,000 in the first year of its two-year project—almost the entire $100,000 goal. But it’s still going on, mainly in the form of fun. And this Sunday, you can have a blast by getting all kindergarten on a canvas at Painting with a Twist in Jenkintown. Ten dollars of every ticket ($45) will go to the ongoing campaign to keep the Irish Center open—and you go home with a pretty neat looking painting that you do with the help of onsite instructors. And we hear there’s wine too.

Speaking of painting: On Saturday, amble out to Prospect Park to Marty Magee’s, a pub on Lincoln Avenue, where Blackthorn and Galway Guild will be performing and the brand new mural depicting scenes from local Irish history will be dedicated. The mural was done by Eric Okdeh who has painted more than 80 murals in Philadelphia, many as part of the city’s internationally known Mural Arts Program (when Britain’s Prince Charles came to Philly, he said that the first thing he wanted to do was see all the murals). See our story.

Since John Byrne is back in town, you might find him at the ballad session at Fergie’s at 12th and Sansom on Sunday. It’s a lovely afternoon in a comfy bar, one of my favorites in the city.

On Wednesday, the sparkling and witty Gerry Timlin of Timlin and Kane will open up his series on Irish history, starting with the ancient Celts, at McCarthy’s White Stag Pub in Bethlehem. The series lasts six weeks, and you can find all the detiails on our calendar.

Coming up this month: The annual Mass to commemorate the 43rd anniversary Bloody Sunday, when 13 people were killed by British troops in Derry City. It will be held at The Irish Center on Sunday, January 25, at 3 PM. Father Edward Brady of St. Anne’s Parish will be the celebrant.

Also, the East Coast Celtic Supporters will be descending on Philly yet again at the end of the month for a three-day Celtic-thon at the Plough and the Stars in Philadelphia. And no, these aren’t fans of the Boston Celtics. They’re diehard supporters of the legendary Celtic Football Club of Glasgow, Scotland.

Both the Glenside Gaelic Club and the Delaware County Gaels are holding indoor leagues for Gaelic football and hurling for youth. Go to www.DelcoGaels.com for more information on their program, which starts February 21 at Maple Zone in Boothwyn, and www.GlensideGaelicClub.com for their program which kicks off on January 23 at YSC Sports in Hatboro. Both these organizations are keeping the love of Gaelic sports alive in the Delaware Valley.

Another organization that helps keep Irish culture alive is, well, us. And you can help us live and grow by buying all your St. Patrick’s Day merchandise from CelticClothing.com. You can see their ads on our page. If you click the ad and buy something using the code word PHILLY, we get 15% of the proceeds and you get a discount. We make a small amount of money from ad sales (the word “pitiful” gets mentioned now and again) that barely covers our expenses. We’d love to pay writers to write for us and photographers to photograph for us so we don’t have to try to be in six places at once. We’re not as young as we used to be. But hey, who is? Thanks!

January 8, 2015 by