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Wow, What an absolutley crazy, happy, stressful and fun week, with some drama thrown in, just to keep us honest.

Friday nite had record crowds, great weather, and, when Quagmyre, the opening act on the Celtic Thunder  Stage, out of Toronto, lost a few of their members to immigration problems, a special fill-in guest appearance by Seven Nations Fiddler Dan Stacy added even more spark to the Quagmyre appearances of group members Cara Butler and Jonathan Palastke.  Cara and Jonathon both have toured with the Cheiftains, just to give you an idea of the level of stunning and electric talent here.  Jonathon plays the fiddle and dances in the same high-energy, no holds barred style of Dan Stacy and they are good friends.  When Jonathon and Cara started off in a duet dance, I could only shake my head in wonder.

The cultural hall got a lot of attention and patronization - it just keeps growing more and more popular each year - the new display on Irish-Americans in Hollywood was a huge hit.

The afters party was rocking when I got back to the hotel, a little after 12, but my “gonna lay down for 1/2 an hour, then go,” plan, failed and I put off the afters party until Satruday nite, then crashed.

Saturday came in what seemed like seconds after I closed my eyes - a quick shower, quick bacon egg & cheese bagel at McD’s (I don’t know why but I just love those things) and back to work.  We have 6 stages that run all 3 days, but add 3 more that run only Sat & Sun.  This includes a workshop stage (for instrument workshops and presentations), like here, with Irish author Cathal Liam, who writes the Aran Roe O’Neill series, now featuring Blood on the Shamrock.  Cathal and I each presented over the weekend on our books, signed and had meet & greets.

Abbey Theatre, which features plays, comedy and special presentations on the Ballad Tradition and The Fit-ups Life and a childrens stage, with tons of activities besides the entertainment, round it out.

We fought off a ton of rain Saturday am, but then the crowds started rolling in, and rolling, and rolling.  The odd thing about the Fairgrounds where the fest is held is that the parking lot and one building are in the city of Berea, the rest of the grounds are in Middleburgh Hts.  So when there is a problem, we have to consider that, before making a call.  Well, we weren’t aware of the problem this time, until they called us.  Apparently the entrance, on Bagley Road, was backed up to I71, about a mile plus away. This has happened in years past, but never this early.

All I could do was laugh.  Ahh to have such problems.  The guy in the blue shirt facing you above, with the two bearded guys, is Nathan Palatske,  facing right is Dan Stacy and left, is Jonathan, so the rest of Quagmyre arrived in time for Saturday’s show.  I didn’t even notice them in the pic until just now.

Saturday was anotehr record crowd, with some amazing shows from  Eileen Ivers, Cathie Ryan and the David Munnelly Band, just to name a few.  Great entertainers, but I have found them to all be really classy folks as well.

Conor Coleman,, Reigning and 2 time world Champion Garrett Coleman,  8 year Lord of the Dance regular Pat Campbell and Keiran Coleman wowed audiences repeatedly withhigh flying moves and fast paced action, while dancing to accompanyment by Cherish the Ladies.

I made an oh so brief appearance at the Saturday nite afters party, my joints were fried and more of the same promised for the next day.   Walking was difficult. I hear 4:00 a.m went by without a break in the sessiuns, oh how I wish I could.
Sunday was more of the same - fantastic weather, huge record-breaking crowds and performances that just blew people away.

Two volunteers passed away over this past year.  We had a special tribute to Bridget and Mike, at the outdoor mass, and in our Celtic Heritage Cultural Hall:

By Monday all had cleared out of the hotel and the 4 day prep was reversed - all had to be completed - and we had to be out - by 5:00 p.m. Monday.    Maureen and Jack got to the grounds before me and started hauling all the displays down, for packing until next year.  So long to set up, just a few hours to tear it all apart.  Jack was joined by John and a few
nephews popped in for brief periods.  Soon the whole thing was dismantled.  I shuffled along - thank God for Jack and Maureen.

Soon all was stacked up, until we loaded it into the Box truck.  The process was repeated for the Abbey Hall, then we ran a convoy over to the box truck and stored it all away.

I stopped by my folks, for a brief bite and we found my dad in a lot of pain.  By Tuesday he was in a great deal of pain and mom took him to the hospital, 3 days later, after surgery on a very bad gall bladder, he is in much better shape today - thank God it happened after the weekend, not during - can’t run without the leader of the pack.  He gave us a scare tho’.

I spent the day organizing the box truck, sorting, cleaning etc..  A LONG day ends a long 2 weeks - we made it!  Now it’s time to prepare for the 25th Annual Cleveland’s Irish Cultural Festival - only 358 days away - July 20-22, 2007!

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 29th, 2006 at 2:46 am and is filed under Festival Legends, The Book, Irish Culture, Irish Music, Past and Present, The Legends, Lives of the Artists, Cleveland's Irish Cultural Festival, random thoughts, My Own Work. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.