Wee Bit o' Ireland in Texas

It’s time to pull out your favorite green shirt, gather up your family and friends and head to Dallas for one of the biggest and best Celtic Heritage festivals in the United States, the North Texas Irish Festival. This sprawling mix of Celtic music, dance, story telling, children’s activities and so much more takes place each year at Fair Park in Dallas. If you care about such things there will also be an ample supply of Guinness, Irish stew and other “fair” foods on tap.  As for the schedule it all begins this evening, Friday March 5, and runs through Sunday,  March 7, 2010.

Our baby dressed for the North Texas Irish Festival

Last year we took our 7 month old baby girl (pictured above) to her first Celtic music festival. I say “first” because we also took her to the Texas Scottish Festival & Highland Games a few months later. She is about three quarters Irish by heritage, so we wanted her to experience some of the music and dance of her roots starting at a young age. Okay, perhaps it wasn’t all for her. My wife and I love the international and local Celtic bands they feature, and we might have sampled a wee bit o’ the Guinness while there in keeping with the spirit (pun not intended) of the event.

The Quays Bar in Temple Bar, Dublin 1.

One of my wife’s and my favorite vacations was to visit her old stomping grounds in Ireland, which is where she lived when we first became acquainted.  Among our favorite pubs on that trip was the Quays Bar (pronounced Keys Bar) in an area of Dublin 1 called Temple Bar, pictured above.  Having a wonderful wee baby girl (now 1 year 7 months old) limits one’s travel choices somewhat. We’ll probably take her to Disney World before we take her to Dublin; but attending the North Texas Irish Festival offers us, and her, a small taste of Ireland right here in Texas.

How about you, will you be attending? What other music or cultural festivals to you enjoy and recommend?

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  1. Was planning on going out to Scarbie this year, as you know it used to be a family tradition every year to go out there to celebrate my birthday. This year, its starting after my birthday and we are going to New Orleans to celebrate my birthday. Maybe we’ll be able to make it out there sometime before the season closing. I would love to share this wonderful experience with my husband.

    1. Hi, Mitzi. Yes, I’m sure your hubby would love Scarborough Renaissance Festival, but one can’t feel to bad about you missing it because you are in New Orleans. What a lovely way to celebrate your birthday! Hope to see you some other weekend.

  2. Michael I am so excited for your new blog!!! YAYYYYYY.

    1. Thanks so much Danielle. I don’t know when I’m going to find the time to write, but had to try to keep up with your pro-bloggers. Or should I say Bloghers?

  3. Hey baby- love the new blog! Actually the header reminds me I need to get the pumpkin some crayons! Haha !Love you sweets!

    1. Hi, Sweetie. Thanks. With such a prolific professional Mommy Blogger in the family I felt the pressure to keep up. Of course now I’m feeling the pressure to publish. That’s common among us University peeps, though, so no biggie. We’ll def have to get the wee one some crayons. She’s already exhibited some excellent artistic abilities. Love you!

  4. I walk past that pub sometimes depending on what route I take to college usually when its not raining and I walk through Temple Bar to have a nosy around. 🙂

    1. Oh, sure fine, Ann. Rub it in. 😉 There are a couple of tables by the windows that we like at the Quays. We also liked the upstairs part of the Palace (also on Fleet)… caught a good session there one night.

  5. Hello, I am from UBP but as soon as I see travel stories my travel sensors go on high alert. I so have a trip to Ireland on my bucket list. I am allergic to beer but I dream of having a beer at a pub in Ireland one day 🙂

    1. Hi. I came from your blog. Thanks for dropping by mine. As I said in my comment on your blog, there are some good alternatives at Irish pubs if Guinness doesn’t agree with you, e.g. my wife, Shannon, and Ann Gorman (both of whom commented up above) are fans of hard ciders such as Bulmers. Though my wife mixes hers with Guinness to form what is called a snakebite. Which is an odd name in a way, since there aren’t snakes in Ireland. Hmmm. Thanks for dropping by. Have a day.

  6. Hi — stopping by from the Ultimate Blog Party!

    I like your informative blog! I really enjoyed this post on Celtic festivals, as my husband had solid Irish roots and would enjoy these types of activities!

    We live in RI, but would be fun to plan a trip to Texas during that time of year!

    Thanks — Dee 😀

  7. Thanks for dropping by, Dee. Like your hubby, my wife is fully Irish by heritage… and while less than a half Irish myself, I’ve always enjoyed the music and culture… well, and also the Guinness if I must. Have a great week!

  1. […] of a mutt, at least a quarter of my lineage hails from the that distant green shore. This means our little girl is largely Irish. To help her understand Saint Patricks Day and who is Saint Patrick we’ve bought several kids […]

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