Fort Collins Irish Festival
The backstory to the founding of the Fort Collins Irish Festival in Colorado gets some coverage on FortCollins:Now.com
Of particular interest to the Kansas City Irish is the role that the Elders played in inspiring the event.
Organiser John Schreck originally wanted some of his favourite Irish music for a one-day fundraiser for organizations that help protect the Colorado environment. And then, as Matt Brady reports, things mushroomed:
“I’ve always had a love of irish music,” Schreck said. In particular, he was thinking of trying to recruit one of his favorite bands, The Elders, out of Kansas City, Mo. It was a stretch to think they’d come, but it couldn’t hurt to ask.
To his surprise, the band agreed to come to Colorado to play at the park. That’s when the fledgling event began to snowball into something much bigger. Schreck’s initial success encouraged him to recruit other Irish bands to play that day. He didn’t expect them to all agree, but they did.
Opening with Eileen Ivers, the August weekend Irish festival also includes The Indulgers, Canned Haggis, Colcannon, The Fuchsia Band, The Glengarry Bhoys, and Ceol Ceili. And of course, The Elders.
The Fort Collins Irish Festival takes place at the Civic Center Park, at Mason and Laporte streets, on the following dates and times:
7:30-9:30pm Friday, August 1
11am-10pm Saturday, August 2
11am-9pm Sunday, August 3
Check out the Fort Collins Irish Festival on their MySpace Page.
Edit: Also check out the rather nice official website of the festival (which was down at the time of posting so I left it out then)
Eolaí gan Fhéile:
