I am so proud to know that The Irish Examiner USA is reaching all across the United States of America in the Irish communities. A lovely lady call Joan Moody has sent me a piece on the Harp and Shamrock Society of San Antonio, Texas. Together with the the Alamo Shrine, they are pleased to announce social distanced Alamo Ceremonies to be held at High Noon on St. Patrick’s Day. Claire McCarthy, Consul General of Ireland at Austin will be present as well as Dana Goodman, Irishman of the Year and Cusack Award Recipients Dr. Gerry Mulvey and Elvira Barrera. Society organizers of this annual event which was the first event sponsored by the Harp and Shamrock Society of Texas in 1966 are Melissa Schulz and Elizabeth Hajek. Society president is Elissa O’Brien. For more information on the society call (210) 656-2666 or visit www.harpandshamrock.org or the society’s facebook page.
Here’s news from New York Council Speaker Cory Johnson that should help bars and restaurants throughout the tristate area and is well overdue. The City Council’s Small Business Committee is holding a hearing as we go to press on two bills providing civil penalty relief for small businesses, who for too long have been subjected to onerous fines from New York City. After conducting a year-long review of the extensive network of rules and regulations that apply to the City’s small businesses, the Council drafted legislation to permanently update more than 180 laws and to provide immediate relief to businesses by refunding unnecessary fines. I am giving you all this news because I am limited in being able to go Out&About and hopefully with all the vaccinations going on right now we will get back to normal and have a cocktail and some dinner again soon.
I have just been told that The Irish Rep’s ‘Theatre @ Home Winter Festival’ closes this coming Sunday, March 7! This week features one final screening of each of their nine performances on screen in order of release! See what you’ve been missing, complete the collection, or rewatch your favorites!
Reservations are free but required to access their digital events. A donation of $25 for the show, or $100 for the Festival, is suggested for those who can afford to give. Buy tickets by phone at (212) 727-2737 or online at irishrep.org.
It won’t seem like St. Patrick’s season without the panoply of parades that usually fill the boroughs through the month of March. But the parade must go on for the Queens institution that is St. Pat’s for All, and the 2021 edition will step off—virtually—this Sunday, March 7. “When the NYPD let us know that all parades in New York are cancelled for the coming months, we had a quick learning curve and began organizing,” parade founder and co-chair Brendan Fay said.
St Pat’s for All 2021 is dedicated to the memory of Tarlach MacNiallais, who died from Covid-19 last April, just a few weeks after last year’s parade. “Tarlach was a much-loved advocate for LGBTQ rights in Belfast and New York,” said Fay. “For 30 years he worked with AHRC, an agency for people with disabilities.” “Our hearts are with his spouse Juan here in Sunnyside and his family back home in Belfast.” A film tribute by Fay and Ed Caraballo will be part of the virtual program. “More than ever, we in the Irish diaspora are finding ways to look out for each other as we celebrate our heritage and culture,” Fay added.
“This year of COVID has been a hard time of loss, sadness and struggle for many. Months of social distancing has taken a toll. In the hardest of times the New York Irish have responded compassionately joining efforts to reach out to the food-deprived communities across the city.”
Political leaders sending messages of support include City Council member Danny Dromm, Irish Consul General Ciaran Madden and US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Fay said he and co-chair Kathleen Walsh D’Arcy felt a responsibility to create a joyful and caring virtual program of musicians, artists in Ireland and in New York who have been meeting, and recording on Zoom for the March 7 celebration, with the goal of filling the virtual space during St. Patrick’s season.
County Clare musician Brian Fleming, who has coordinated the musical performances of St. Pat’s for All for two decades, is producing the musical part of the program. Among the legends from the Irish music world, Mick Moloney will perform a song celebrating the “San Patricios,” the Irish soldiers who fought for Mexico in the 19th century. Across the virtual divide, he will be joined by singer Liz Hanley in Boston, accompanied on fiddle by Athena Tergis in Italy and percussionist Brian Fleming in Clare.
Also performing are renowned musician David Amram, music teacher Colin Harte with students from the Bronx High School of Language and Innovation, Irish fiddler Tony DeMarco, the Niall O’Leary School of Irish Dance and Malachy McCourt. Linking with youth from the Shannon Gaels in New York, boys and girls from Drogheda in County Louth, filmed a message inspired by the Seamus Heaney poem, ”Cure at Troy.” They extend St Patrick’s greetings to President Joe Biden, whose ancestors came from County Louth and to Drogheda native in New York, Irish Ambassador to the UN, Geraldine Byrne Nason.
“While we will miss the marching and rolling up Skillman Ave, St Pat’s for All 2021 brings us together at the virtual crossroads in a joyful transatlantic celebration of welcome, remembering and solidarity,” Fay said. “We begin each St Pat’s For All remembering the generosity and kindness of the Choctaw in 1847 during the Irish famine inspires us to get through this pandemic ‘le cheile’ together as a human family and next year we will be back dancing on Skillman Avenue and singing our hearts out in Saints and Sinners in Woodside.”
The virtual parade steps off on Sunday March 7 at 2 pm New York time, 7 pm in Ireland! To stream the parade, visit the St. Pat’s for All website at www.stpatsforall.org.
Hope to see you all again when I am Out&About again…