Penn’s Landing Irish Festival

Paul Moore of Paddy's Well.

The weather forecast on Sunday, the day of the Penn’s Landing Irish Festival, looked chancy. Early in the day, as Mass was celebrated for the first time at the Irish Famine Memorial a few blocks away, a sudden shower forced congregants at the open-air service to pop their umbrellas … and for a group of middle-aged “altar boys” to hastily move a canopy over the altar.

Turns out, that was pretty much it. Though there were moments when the skies threatened to open up again and give us all a sampling of true Irish weather, mostly we got a sampling of Irish luck—from the moment Paul Moore and Paddy’s Well hit the stage down on the Great Plaza along the Delaware to the big finale featuring Blackthorn.

“Not a drop,” remarked organizer and Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Parade Director Michael Bradley. “Rain slid just north, so bad that parts of I-95 in the city were closed, but we were blessed.”

Like most of the festivals in the PECO Multicultural Series, the Irish fest offered up a wide-ranging display of music, dance, food and drink, and other aspects of this particular culture. Festival-goers do seem to be seriously drawn to the Paddy rock bands—and Philly has some of the very best of that breed—but for the first time, they also heard some of the unplugged traditional music in the form of the Pat the Budgie Ceili Band.

As always, just about every Irish dance school you could think of was on hand to perform between the musical acts—and, sometimes, during the musical acts, as Michael Bradley coaxed the Celtic Flame dancers up onto their feet to prance about as Paddy’s Well played. (Not that Irish dancers ever need much coaxing.)

Vendors sold the usual shirts, hats and other tchochkes, volunteers painted many little faces, and the people selling beer and other liquid refreshments did land-office business on what turned out to be a hot, hot early summer Philly day.

If you couldn’t be there, no worries. We were on hand to take lots and lots of photos.

The first Mass ever was celebrated at the Irish Memorial at Penns Landing before the festival began.

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Blackthorn closes out the festival.

Maybe it’s that our people come from a place where a “warm” summer day tops out at 70 degrees. (And don’t even talk to me about the surf temperature.) Still, there’s just something about 80- and 90-degree Philadelphia weather that brings out the best in an Irishman. (And an Irishwoman, too, of course.)

You can find out for yourself on Sunday, June 22, from noon ‘til 9 p.m. as the annual Philadelphia Penn’s Landing Irish Festival kicks off on the waterfront at Chestnut Street and Columbus Boulevard.

Unlike previous festivals, this one just lasts a day instead of the whole weekend. So if ya snooze, ya loose. And to hear Michael Bradley tell it, you’d be missing a whole lot.

Bradley, who directs the Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Parade, also runs this event. He sees it as a way to continue to provide needed exposure for the many groups, organizations and traditions of Irish Philadelphia. Too, he’s so well-connected because of his Parade activities, he’s just the man for the job.

“I think it’s a natural for the parade director,” he says. “I have so many contacts in the Irish community. I’m able to promote it much better.”

This year, the great local Irish band Paddy’s Well starts the day with a concert on the main stage at 12:15. Closing out the day will be the inimitable Blackthorn.

“Paddy’s Well will draw people who want to be there early, and Blackthorn will close from 6 to 9,” he Bradley says. “So we’ve got a strong beginning and a strong ending.”

Everything in the middle is pretty strong, too—including a first-ever appearance by a group of local traditional Irish musicians who go by the name Pat the Budgie. They perform from 4:15 to 6.

“I just wanted to try something different,” he says. “These musicians play a lot up at the Irish Center, it’s part of the culture and it was being ignored.”

If you love Irish dance, you can expect to be surrounded by a sea of curly wigs. Eight of the area’s Irish dance schools will be performing throughout the day.

Of course, festival-going is thirsty work. So you can expect some nice cooling drinks—including, for the first time, Guinness. (Hard to believe, ain’t it?) There’ll be lots of terrific food and tables full of Irish beads and trinkets to buy. The number of vendors is double last year’s, Bradley says: “Each year it just gets better and better.”

If you attended the festival before, we direct your rapt attention to our photo essay from 2007.

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Dancing in the sun.

It was 84 degrees in the shade at Penn’s Landing—what little shade there is. The sun hammered down on all the happy Irish people in their floppy hats and slick with sweat and Celtic-strength sunblock. Sean Fleming was on stage, the drums and bass pounding, people clapping, cute little kids prancing like ponies in front of the big stage, pleasure boats bobbing like bathtub toys out on the Delaware.

In other words, it was a lot like June in Donegal or Sligo—well, it was like June in Donegal or Sligo will be after about 200 years of global warming.

It was Sunday, a perfect day, even better than the day before, and even though the event was winding down, the waterfront venue was still jammed with Irish-Americans, and lots of other people who might have been Indian, Italian, Japanese—anything but Irish. No matter. For this letter-perfect celebration of Irish culture, anyone who shared in the fun along the Delaware could claim to be as Irish as they wanted to be.

There were certainly plenty of ways to get into the spirit of things—from the cold beer to the lemon and cherry Irish Ice to the goofy shamrock hats and “Irish Princess” babydoll tees for sale 

And, of yes, there was music, and plenty of it: Blackthorn, Sean Fleming, 7 Nations, the Bogside Rogues, and so much more.

The whole shebang was hosted by Finnigan’s Wake and the Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Parade Association, and sponsored by PECO and Penn’s Landing Corporation.

Wanna see how much fun we had? Check out the photos.