Dance

Seamus Kennedy in a reflective moment.

These days, when we go to many Philly Irish events, we’re occasionally doing double duty. You’ll sometimes see one of us with both a still camera and a video camera draped about the next. We’re often confused about what to do with which.

We got over our confusion the day of the Philly Fleadh down at the Cherokee Festival Grounds last weekend, enough so that you can see some of the dancing, hear some of the music, and generally take in all of the fun.

Maggie Carr Wreski and John Byrne share a laugh.

For one day, the Cherokee Festival Grounds was a microcosm of just about everything that is Irish in the Delaware Valley.

On Saturday, this broad tree-lined lawn played host to a fèis—an Irish dance competition sponsored by the Celtic Flame School of Dance—along with open-air concerts by Burning Bridget Cleary, Jamison Celtic Rock, Seamus Kennedy, Ray Coleman, the Mahones, the Bogside Rogues, and pretty much of the royalty of Irish music from Philly and beyond, traditional and otherwise. People lined up for chips on a stick—what genius invented them?—hot dogs, burgers, bite-sized Guinness cupcakes with swirls of Bailey’s frosting–and again we ask, what genius invented them?–and cold brews to wash it all down with. There were vendors all over the place. If you wanted to buy a Goth-y corset, the Philly Fleadh was just the place to get one.

Thank America Paddy’s Productions for pulling it all off smoothly. We ran into one of the aforementioned Paddys, Jamison front man Frank Daly, who seemed a whole lot more relaxed about things this year than last. And that, even after a last-minute switch from the original festival location, Pennypack Park. Everything worked out for the best—maybe better than the best.

We have a pile of pictures from the day.

Here ya go: