By Paddy McCarthy
I had a very busy Columbus Day weekend as I did a little bit of traveling while I was Out&About. On Friday evening I got an invite from the super star himself Andy Cooney to have dinner in one of his and my favorite restaurants called Grumpy Jack’s in Port Jefferson, Long Island. Now how could I turn down this invitation with the great Andy and his lovely wife Susanna, of course not. My wife Pattie and myself met with Andy and his wife for a very nice dinner at Grumpy Jack’s that is a very popular bar and restaurant. It’s highly recommended and the place is always packed, well you know why? Because the food and the service are top of the line. Yes, we had a couple of Guinnesses and a good chat about music and of course the pandemic that has affected almost everybody at home and work. We did talk about the Long Island Irish Fest as Andy Cooney is a big part of it. The Ancient Order of Hibernians in Nassau County sponsors the Fest that will be held this Sunday, October 17th.
The festival will be a day of Irish music and dancing, featuring some of the top international Irish bands, like Andy Cooney, McLean Avenue, and the Screaming Orphans and local acts such as Harper’s Ferry and the Galway Boys. It will be held at Plattdeutsch Park in Franklin Square and will be replete with traditional Irish music, including a session area, dancers and pipe bands, as well as other headline acts. So, you can see we had a lot to talk about and the best part was Andy Cooney’s NY Irish Music hour Podcast that now has over 30,000 listeners per week, now that is something that he just started over six months ago only.
Moving on, we took a trip to Connecticut on Sunday to the Kids City Children’s Museum with my daughter Christina, my son James, his partner Sophia and grandchildren Mila and Parker, both little girls. I recommend it to all young families to pay it a visit as kids will just love it. Here is some information on what you can do and how to get there: Kids City is open by reservation only, and they are not able to take walk-in visitors. Please reserve an entry time at their website. Kid’s City is a children’s museum with three floors of pretend play for little kids (age 1 to 7) and their favorite grown-ups! The exhibits are handmade and one-of-a-kind, built by in-house artists who love inspiring playfulness in visitors of all ages. A museum is usually a place for looking, but a children’s museum is a place for doing! Each of their hands-on exhibits will jumpstart your child’s imagination… and yours too. “We believe imagination is a muscle — you’ve got to use it or you lose it!,” they say.
Kids and their grown-ups have to “stay together to play together.” The Toddler Sea Caves room is just for age 2 and under and is not open to older siblings. Food and drink are limited to the snack area (which is now outdoors) and masks are required for adults and kids, regardless of vaccination status. Masks are not required for babies and 1-year-olds, and many of their visitors are in this age group. For little ones without masks, the recommendation is to avoid close contact during public indoor activities. They say that’s why their keeping the capacity of the museum quite low — you will always be able to find other spaces to enjoy if one area gets crowded and they ask families to be generous with each other in making this work. Thank you! I am telling you it’s a fun Museum and all the kids will love it, just like me. Visit www.kidscitymuseam.com for more information.
When I was back in Ireland recently I was able to meet with a friend of mine, Conal Creedon from Cork and I promised I would give his two books a mention in my Out&About column and here it is and what a great story as I have read his blockbuster ‘Pancho and Lefty’ and I nearly broke my sides laughing as he has some great short stories. I’d also recommend checking out his other book ‘Passion Play’. Conal is an award-winning novelist, playwright documentary filmmaker. His work is inspired by the “spaghetti bowl” of the streets in downtown Cork City where his family has lived and traded since the beginning of the last century. Check out his website at www.conalcreedon.com.
See you all again when I’m Out&About…