I am proud that I am Irish. My great-grandparents on my father's side immigrated from Ireland. I am also proud that I am Canadian. My grandparents on my mother's side immigrated from Canada. Their ancestors actually arrived on the Mayflower and fought in the American Revolution. I am also Scottish - my mother is of Armstrong stock. I also come from Germany (Grabske and Trefz) and Sweden. Gotta love the melting pot.
Labor Day weekend, they had the 8th Annual Kansas City Irish Fest. After the Jubilee, I met my parents down at Crown Center for the festivities.
'Funny' side note. I was already downtown, at Union Station, because of lunch after the Jubilee, and I ended up driving about 20 minutes both ways to run home and change my pants, shoes, and get the ticket. For some reason I thought the Fest was in Independence. Hah. [I sigh.]
Well, I said I joined my parents, I actually joined my (step)mom and my niece. My dad "already had been there seven hours" and as soon as I got there, he went home.
First off, the O'Riada Academy of Irish Dance performed. Fun stuff. It amazes me how high they jump while keeping their upper body totally still.
A few pics:
What did I say about the jumping?
My mom told me that that curly hair - it's a wig.
Another bit of trivia from mom: those costumes can cost upwards of $1,000.
A crowd pleaser: they incorporated the Moonwalk into their routine. Here, he's using an invisible rope to pull her across the stage.
Part of the last dance.
In honor of the event, they dyed the water green. This takes place right after the dancing expo. I really like how this picture is composed. I think the girl walking on the fountain makes the picture for me.
This cracked me up - this guy was squirting these kids with water and they were begging for more.
I enjoyed so much watching these kids play in the fountain with utter abandon.
This little girl, Lily, was cracking me up with how she played. She stepped on the spickots, reached in to try to figure out where the water came from, and did things like this...
There were lots of different costumes, green hair, and things like this, a woman wearing a hat her daughter made her.
A real life piper! Denis New, of Arklow, County Wicklow, Ireland. I loved how his neck bulged when he played.
The pin on the kilt - took quite a few pictures to finally get this balanced correctly.
One of the many performers at the Irish Fest.
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