Volunteer of the Year

A couple of blogs ago, I commented about the "Witt List", and said the author, Brian Witt should win an award or something for all the hard work he does for the local Irish community.

Well he did.

At the Irish Fest Christmas party one of the highlights of the evening (besides my outfit) is the announcement of the Irish Fest Volunteer of the Year.  This year our honoree was none other than the aforementioned Brian Witt.

Brian Witt

Brian attended the first Irish Fest, became a member of the Shamrock Club, took Irish language lessons, became involved with the Irish Fest Theater, supported Irish music lessons in Milwaukee on a year round basis, has been involved with the Summer School for years, is an active participant of the Online Development Committee and of course - coordinator of the Cultural area at the festival.

Along the way he was active in the Milwaukee InterCeltic Cooperative, was one of the incorporators of the Irish Cultural and Heritage Center, spent four years broadcasting on WMYS Radio Erin, has edited the Emeral Reflections since 1999, has held numerous positions in the Shamrock Club Board of Directors, including four years as President, was named the Shamrock Club Irishman of the Year in 2004, (this is a really long sentence and I'm not even done yet!), originated and was the voice of 77-IRISH, writes music reviews for Irish Music magazine and other periodicals, authors a weekly newsletter - Wisconsin Irish Week and for the past thirteen years has provided a calendar of Irish and Celtic events and activities.

Brian also provides "Saint of the Day" reports on his Facebook page as well, which is nice if you need to know more about St. Cunegunda.

As Volunteer of the Year, Brian gets a place of honor in the St Patricks's Day parades in Milwaukee, gets to wear a cool sash and leads the daily Irish Fest parade at the festival.  And because he's not a pagan baby, he get to process in with all the holy priests and bishops at the Sunday Mass at the ampitheater.  Wearing the cool sash to pubs is worth a lot of free drinks from what I hear.

So when you see Brian this year, make sure to say congrats!

The 12 Days of Christmas - Irish Fest Style

If I were in charge of posting the Irish Fest 12 days of Christmas, you'd start to see them oh . . say, mid January, and finishing up in early April.  Fortunately for all of you, Irish Fest has much more dependable people (Jeff and Barry) in charge of such a project. 

Last year our entertainment committee wanted to highlight some of the groups for our 30th anniversary and developed the "Twelve Irish Days of Christmas" theme (I know you know this already but - aren't we clever?) So we introduced a different group each day leading up to Christmas. Jeff Ksiazek, (deep down inside he's Irish), put together a daily posting on the Irish Fest entertainment page and also posted onto our Facebook page (our Facebook page motto: "You like potatoes too? - be our friend!").

So because I'm Johnny-on-the-spot, here is the first group we announced (like five days ago):

Drum roll please - It's Gaelic Storm!

Yes boys and girls, Gaelic Storm will be returning to the festival next August wowing the crowds from the Miller Stage and generally just making the weekend a whole lot more fun!

Gaelic Storm

It's funny, because I could've sworn this picture used to have some kind of Irish vegetable in it. I must admit I think it looks pretty good with Paddy in it.  I'll bet the Gaelic Storm legal team thinks so too! Ha!

So 243 days from today Gaelic Storm will be reuniting with their closest 125,000 friends in Milwaukee.  If you aren't one of them, mark your calendar, memorize all the lyrics and get ready for the most fun you'll have all summer.  If you can't wait that long, they will be at the Pabst Theater on St. Paddy's Day for their annual Milwaukee St. Patrick's Day concert

I'll keep you posted on the rest of our 12 Days of Christmas.  Hopefully I'll get them to you before the festival.  If you want a more up  to date listing see them here.

243 days huh? It will be here before you know it.

A Blarney Christmas

This Saturday night at the Irish Fest Center the Irish Fest house band Blarney will be holding their Christmas Concert.  The show starts at 8 PM and the doors open at 7.  Also appearing as a special guest will be Eamonn O'Neill our resident Irish storyteller

This is going to be a special concert since this is one of the first Blarney shows without Chuck Ward.  Although we will all miss Chuck's rich voice and onstage personality, this shown represents the embodiment of Chuck's philsosphy; celebration of life and service to others.




Chuck Ward


The concert is benefitting the Wauwatosa Community Food Pantry so if you're going to come (why wouldn't you?) being along a non-perishable food item.   Hey, bring two 'cause there's a lot of people counting on you. It's all for a good cause.

So come on out Saturday night bring some food an have a great time. Tickets are only $10.  It's a great deal.

It's a Blarney Christmas!

The Witt-List

Rhymes with another kind of list doesn't it? Actually those of us in the know (that's me) call this the Witt List in honor of the guy who puts it all together; Brian Witt. 

If you are looking for any activities remotely Celtic in the Milwaukee, Southeast Wisconsin, or the Midwest area in general will want to refer to this list.  You can find it at the Shamrock Club of Wisconsin website under the "Milwaukee Calendar" heading.

Brian Witt (who will be getting his own special posting here very soon), has been putting this list together for some time.  If you want to know what's going on, make sure you bookmark this page for reference. (If you don't know how to bookmark ask one of the kids)

 Brian has his finger on the Celtic pulse here and spends a lot of time putting this list together for you just so you don't miss anything Irish.

And the price is right - FREE!

Thanks Brian - you should really get some kind of an award or something.

Leahy

I told you there was a lot to talk about this month. . .

This Saturday after taking the kids to see Nick McFest at the Irish Fest Center treat your favorite someone to a great show at the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts.  A Leahy Family Christmas  featuring Canada's first family of Celtic music, the Leahy's, will kick off at 8 PM.  Because the Leahy's are so popular here in Wisconsin, a matinee show was added at 2 Saturday afternoon.  I actually think the show was added because they have to fill the bus before leaving for their next gig.



The Leahy Family
(Extra points if you can name them all!)


The Peat Blogger has a special spot for the Leahy's since they have performed on the Miller Parkview Stage at Irish Fest about a million times (no really, I'm serious) over the past 30 years.  As a matter of fact, the first time they were in Milwaukee, I think Angus was in diapers, and Doug still had hair.  Now when they come to Milwaukee they bring their own kids (approximately 732 of them).

A couple of years back during one of their fall tours, the Peat Blogger had the whole family (except Siobheann who was having like her 9th or 10th child I think) over to the house for an evening of lasagna, foosball, and laughs.  Doug had his kids with him and everyone had a great time.  I even checked after the bus left and all our silverware was still there!  The nicest people you'll ever meet.

So if you seriously want to see a terrific holiday show, by the enormously talented Leahy Family, stop by the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center in Brookfield this Saturday, or call 262-781-9520.  Tickets are still available but don't wait until Saturday morning for Pete's sake.

Nick McFest

This is a really busy time of the year.  If I were really well organized I could be blogging about oh, every 20 minutes or so. (I'm sure Mrs. Peat Blogger would be happy about that!) Since Christmas decorations don't "magically appear on walls", and snow doesn't shovel itself, I will in the words of Chief Dan George "endeavor to persevere" as I juggle all the holiday activities while letting you, gentle reader, know what's happening around Irish Fest and the Celtic community at large.

This healthy (no pipe) looking holiday chap is our very own Nick McFest. You may be saying to yourself "this looks a lot like the Celtic Boutique logo from a couple of weeks ago" and you may be right.  In this economy we are a "one season one logo" organization, and this guy happens to be our October to January guy.

This coming Saturday when you have nothing going on and the Missus is begging you to get the little shavers out of the house, the Peat Blogger has a great idea for you -   Breakfast with Nick McFest!

Saturday the 11th take the kids to the Irish Fest Center at 1532 Wauwatosa Ave for a morning of games crafts and Nick McFest himself who looks a lot like Santa but with a slight color problem.  Breakfast is at 9:30 (apparently you're not the only one having trouble getting out of bed on a Saturday). The menu includes: Pancackes, sausages, fruit salad, juices, coffee and tea.

There will be games, crafts, songs and a visit from Nick himself.  Your kids can tell Nick that "my dad's stomach is bigger than yours" while eating pancackes and sausages - Yum!  If you can't make breakfast, lunch will be served at noon with a menu of hot dogs (Hey! these look like breakfast sausages), chips fruit salad cookies and juice.

A great way to spend a Saturday with the kids.  Cost is $8 bucks for kids and $7 for adults.  Call for a reservation at 414-476-3378 and see you next Saturday