ADAMS COUNTY IRISH FESTIVAL����������������������������� ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� July 17, 2007
http://www.adamscountyirishfestival.com�����������������������������������������
Contact:� Patrick Bowling - (717) 337-5999
��� �������������[email protected]
8th� Annual Benefit Offers Full Day of Sights, Sounds and Family Fun
on Saturday July 21
WHAT:
Held
rain or shine, the Eighth Annual Adams
County Irish Festival features a full day of family fun with traditional
Irish music, dancers, food and merchandise along with living history portrayals
and music workshops.� The music slate
features button accordion master John
Whelan from the original Broadway production of Riverdance plus several regional performers.� Last year�s festival drew over three thousand people.� The festival benefits the Children�s Friendship Project for Northern Ireland
(an interfaith peace and friendship building program for Northern Irish teens)
and has a long term goal of helping to fund the eventual establishment of a
national Irish history museum and library near Gettysburg.�� 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.
WHO:
Seven-time All-Ireland Champion accordionist John Whelan & Friends will be making their Adams County Irish Festival debut this year.� Although he grew up in England, John Whelan was raised exclusively on traditional Irish music by his parents who both came from Ireland.� By age 14, Whelan�s skill on the two row button accordion had already earned him several accordion championships and he recorded his first solo album.� After moving to America in 1980, Whelan soon began performing with Riverdance fiddler Eileen Ivers in one of the most popular Irish duos of the decade.� Whelan also performed in the original Broadway production of Riverdance.� In the late nineties, the John Whelan Band thrilled audiences in America and Europe, and Whelan was named Traditionalist of the Year by the Irish Echo in 1998.� Whelan has recorded over a half-dozen albums and in addition to his success as an instrumentalist, composer and arranger, he has appeared in TV specials and the 1999 Ang Lee film Ride With the Devil, along with producing the Celtic rock band Black Thorn in 2001.
Other
notable sights and sounds in the shady glen of the park will include Barleyjuice,
a kilt-clad rockin� Irish band from Philadelphia, Harrisburg�s Lochiel Emerald Society Pipes and Drums,
interactive music workshops and demonstrations, Civil War re-enactors from the
Union Army�s Irish Brigade, a
portrayal of Irish Volunteers from the West
Cork Flying Column of the 1919-1921 Anglo-Irish War, an Irish dance performance, Irish
gift/merchandise vendors and the Potomac
Valley Irish Wolfhound Club.�
WHEN:
The
festival is on Saturday July 21, 2007 from 10:00am�7:30pm at the Gettysburg Moose
Park.� John Whelan & Friends perform
from 3:30-4:30pm; Barleyjuice, 5:00-6:00pm; Irish dancers, 3:00-3:30pm.� Full entertainment schedule and details at www.adamscountyirishfestival.com
WHERE:
The
festival is held at the Gettysburg Moose
Park, 100 Moose Road in Straban Township east of Gettysburg, PA.� Moose Road is off of US 30 about 1.6 miles
east of the US 15 interchange.