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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE������������������������������������������������������� ��� ����������Adams
County Irish Festival
June 27, 2006������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� ���������� �����������P.O. Box 3934
����������������������������������������������������������������������� Gettysburg, PA
17325
����������������������������������������������������������������������� http://www.adamscountyirishfestival.com
����������������������������������� CONTACT:�� Patrick Bowling
����������������������������������������������������������� (717)
337-5999
����������������������������������������������������������� [email protected]
����������������������������������������������������������� Dan
Diviney
����������������������������������������������������������� (717)
624-2542
����������������������������������������������������������� [email protected]
FOLK Music Legend TOMMY
MAKEM HeadlineS
Adams County
Irish Festival
Seventh
Annual Benefit at Gettysburg
Moose Park
on Saturday July 15
Offers
Full Day of Family Fun
����������� GETTYSBURG, PA:� The Seventh Annual Adams County Irish
Festival will be held rain or shine on Saturday July 15, 2006 in the shady
grove of the Gettysburg
Moose Park.� The gate opens at 10:30 AM and the festival
runs until 8:00 PM.� The park is located
at 100 Moose Road
which is just off of US Route 30 in Straban Township
about a mile and a half east of the US
15 interchange near historic Gettysburg,
PA.� Admission is $8 for adults and children under
12 are free.��
����������� With a full day of Irish music,
dancers, food, merchandise and more, the festival offers wholesome family fun
while primarily benefiting the Children�s Friendship Project for Northern
Ireland (CFPNI).� CFPNI is a peace and
friendship building program that selects and pairs Catholic and Protestant
teens from Northern Ireland
to pursue a friendship between themselves, their families and friends.� The festival is again partnering with Moose
Lodge 1526 of Gettysburg to fund CFPNI-paired
teens to spend time with host families in the U.S. where they can pursue
friendship and understanding in a neutral environment while focusing on their
similarities rather than differences.� A
long-term goal of the festival is to also fund the eventual establishment of a
national Irish history museum and library in the Gettysburg area.� This year�s festival is sponsored in part by
Environmentally Safe Products, Harrisburg St. Patrick�s Day Parade Association,
Conewago Enterprises and McSherrystown
Home Association.���
����������� Southcentral
Pennsylvania
is traditionally known for being an area populated by German immigrants but
what is less known is its Irish heritage.�
In the latest census, about 15% of Adams County�s
population claimed Irish ancestry.� Many
of the early 18th century settlers in what is now Adams County
were Irish or Scots-Irish immigrants and various place names in the county such
as Irishtown, Straban and McSherrystown reflect the Irish influence.� Now in its seventh year, the Adams County
Irish Festival appeals not only to those interested in Irish heritage and
culture but also to bluegrass music fans as that genre has its roots in the
traditional music of Ireland and Scotland.�
The festival was cited as a noteworthy annual event in Kate Hertzog�s recently published Insiders� Guide to Gettysburg (2006, Globe Pequot Press).
The oldest and largest Irish festival in southcentral Pennsylvania
drew a crowd of about two thousand people last year who enjoyed local, regional
and internationally known musicians, Irish step dancers, Irish food, music
workshops, living history exhibits plus art, craft and gift vendors.� Another big turnout is anticipated for this
year as festival organizers are pleased and privileged to announce an
impressive star-studded line-up featuring three international recording artists
headlined by folk music legend Tommy Makem who will
be making his first appearance at the festival.
����������� For over four decades, Tommy Makem has been mesmerizing audiences worldwide with his banjo,
tin whistle, poetry, stagecraft and magnificent baritone voice.� He is known as the modern-day Bard of Armagh and is globally regarded as �The Godfather of Irish
Music�.
A native of Keady,
County Armagh in the north of Ireland, Tommy Makem is the son of Sarah Makem,
a legendary folksinger who helped shape her son�s musical background.� In the mid 1950s, Makem�s
desire to become an actor took him to New
York.� After a
brief but rewarding stint in live television, summer stock and Off-Broadway
plays, Makem teamed with Liam, Tom and Paddy Clancy
to form The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem in the
late 1950s.� By 1961, the group was
signed to a major record label and acoustic folk music had emerged as a popular
style of music.� Around this time, Makem frequently shared festival bills with icons of the
acoustic movement such as Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan and
Joan Baez.� Through the early 1960s,
Tommy Makem, together with the Clancy Brothers,
appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show and every major television
network show in the U.S.
They soon became the four most famous Irishmen in the world.� They played to standing-room-only audiences
from New York�s Carnegie Hall and London�s Royal Albert
Hall to every major concert venue in the English-speaking world.� Makem left the
group to pursue a solo career�
in 1969.� In 1975, he and
Liam Clancy were both booked to play a festival in Cleveland, OH
and were persuaded to do a set together.�
The audience response convinced them that it was a magical combination
and they often toured together for the next dozen years garnering several
platinum and gold records.� Makem once again went solo in 1988 and has been involved in
various television projects that showcase traditional Irish music or Irish
travel destinations. �The World Folk
Music Association awarded him its Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999, the same
year that Irish America magazine
named Makem along with his old partners Liam, the
late Tom and the late Paddy Clancy in the Top 100 Irish Americans of the Century.
�While Tommy Makem
excels as an entertainer, being part musician, part storyteller, part singer
and part actor; it is as a songwriter that he will live forever.� Makem has written
over a hundred songs including �The Rambles of Spring�, �Gentle Annie�, �The
Winds Are Singing Freedom� and �Four Green Fields�, all of which are standards
in the repertoire of folksingers around the world.� Makem now makes his
home� in Dover, New
Hampshire and continues to record and perform.
Another first-time act for the festival
is Irish American Cathie Ryan whose crystalline vocals and insightful
songwriting provides a unique and distinctive voice on the Irish music
scene.� Since her acclaimed seven year
tenure as lead singer of Cherish the Ladies, Ryan has emerged as one of the
most popular and enduring singer-songwriters in Celtic music.� A Detroit
native, Ryan is a captivating performer who truly relishes sharing music with a
live audience and she has built a loyal following throughout Europe and North America by touring steadily and singing from her
heart.� Ryan has released four critically
acclaimed albums including her latest, The
Farthest Wave and she is featured on more than forty compilations of Celtic
music.� In 2003, Ryan was included in the
famous Irish music collection, A Woman�s
Heart � A Decade On, placing her among the finest
female vocalists and songwriters in Irish music.� This marked the first time Americans were
featured in the series and she shared the honor with Emmylou Harris, Allison
Krauss and Dolly Parton.� Recently, Ryan�s original songs have been
recorded by noted Irish vocalists including Frances Black and Mary Black.� Ryan has performed on national and public
television in the U.S. and Europe and appeared on National Public Radio�s Mountain Stage and Thistle and Shamrock.� The
Boston Globe recently wrote, �Cathie Ryan is a thrilling traditional vocalist
whose honey-pure soprano is equally at home on probing original ballads about a
woman�s place in the modern world.�� In
addition to her mid-afternoon performance at the festival,� Cathie Ryan will also be demonstrating
sean nos
(literally �old style�; traditional Irish singing a cappella) during a workshop
from 11:00am to noon.
� ��������� Direct
from Kilcock, County
Kildare, Ireland
and making his fourth appearance at the festival is �The Patriotic Spirit of
Irish Music,� Derek Warfield.� Born and
bred in Dublin,
singer, songwriter and noted historian Derek Warfield was a founding member and
leader of the legendary Irish rebel songsters, the Wolfe Tones.� For over 40 years he has been the voice
behind the stirring introductions and author of many famous ballads that have
endeared him to countless thousands of fans all over the world.� He has written and recorded over 60 songs and
ballads.� Through his songs, music and
lectures, Warfield weaves history together with song to remind the Irish at
home and abroad of their debt to patriots of past generations.� Warfield is also known as the Bard of the
American Civil War.� Some of his work has
focused on the music of the Civil War which involved half a million Irishmen on
both sides.� Warfield has released a
total of ten solo albums since the mid-nineties.� His latest album, God Save Ireland, is a two-volume collection of energetic ballads
related to Irish patriotism and collective national memory.
Also appearing is Harrisburg area piper Rodney Owens, a fixture
at every festival to date.� The
Adams-York area�s ever-popular Irishtown Road will be
making their sixth festival appearance as they celebrate a decade of performing
traditional Irish and traditionally-arranged original music with the first-ever
reunion of all seven past and present members of the band.� Another local favorite, Cormorant�s Fancy,
returns for the second consecutive year as they showcase their recent album, An Evening at the Fairfield Inn .� Rounding out the music slate are the
thunderous sounds of the Lochiel Emerald Society
Police and Fire Pipe and Drum Corps from Harrisburg
who are making their first festival appearance along with newcomers The Spalpeens, a fiery, hard driving Irish band from Baltimore. Irish step
dancing is also on tap as the Harrisburg-based McGinley School of Irish Dance
appears for the third consecutive year.
In addition to music and dance
performances, several other activities are offered at the festival.� Over two dozen vendors will be selling
different Irish goods plus food and beverage.�
Festival-goers can also participate in interactive music workshops on
the tin whistle and bodhran (Irish drum) and watch a
bagpipes demonstration.� Living history
exhibits will include Civil War re-enactors from the 69th New York State
Volunteers which was part of the Union Army�s famed Irish Brigade plus the
Irish Volunteer Historical Society who portray the Army of Irish Volunteers
from the early twentieth century Anglo-Irish War that established the Irish
Republic. Among the Irish-American organizations that will be present include
the Ancient Order of Hibernians, Irish Cultural Society and the Notre Dame Club
of Gettysburg, who will be raffling two tickets to this year�s Notre Dame-Penn
State football game and a football autographed by Jerome Betis
to benefit the club�s scholarship fund.�
The Potomac Valley Irish Wolfhound Club will also be on hand along with
some of their four-legged friends.�����
����������� For more information, visit the
festival�s website at www.adamscountyirishfestival.com
.� The Adams County Irish Festival is
produced and presented by the Irish Heritage Foundation of Gettysburg, an
all-volunteer 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
#�� #�� #
Main Stage Entertainment Schedule:
11:00am-12:00� Sean Nos Workshop by Cathie Ryan
12:00-12:30pm� Opening
Ceremony � 69th New
York State
Volunteers, Rodney Owens,���
���������������� ����������Lochiel
Emerald Society Pipes and Drums
12:30-1:30pm� Irishtown
Road
1:30-2:30pm� Derek Warfield
2:30-3:30pm� Cathie Ryan
3:30-4:00pm� McGinley School
of Irish Dance
4:00-5:00pm� Tommy Makem
5:00-5:30pm� Irish
Volunteer Historical Society (demonstration)
5:30-6:30pm� The Spalpeens�
7:00-8:00pm� Cormorant�s
Fancy
MEDIA COVERAGE INVITED!
NOTE:� Photos of artists and from previous festivals
available upon request.