For the third year in a row, ZGirl and I went to Irish Fest in Milwaukee.  This was our best visit yet.

I should mention that I am, as far as I know, exactly 0% Irish.  Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, and Welsh, yes, but not one bit Irish.  Still, I like Irish Fest [Sociological aside: The crowd at Irish Fest is very, very white.  Not exactly a big surprise, I know; even so, it's hard not to notice].

For me, the main appeal is the music.  In particular, I’m a sucker for bands that mix rock and Irish folk.  For example, I love the Pogues.

This time, we lucked into some excellent music.  The first thing that we heard when we walked in was a band playing “Sally MacLennane.” That was a good omen, so we wandered over and listened to Reilly play “Come On, Eileen” and “South Australia,” among others.  Good stuff.

The members of another band, the Gleasons, happened to be sitting not far behind us (one of the members of Reilly pointed them out), so we checked them out when they played a few hours later.  They describe themselves as an ”Americeltic pop’n'rock band,” and I can’t improve on that description.  They played the immortal “Whiskey in a Jar,” some Flogging Molly, and some fine original tunes.  Again, good stuff.    

We also found other things to do: 

• We watched the Celtic Canines agility show—imagine lots of Irish Setters and Irish Terriers jumping over hurdles and through hoops (or, in some cases, not jumping over hurdles and through hoops; these canines varied widely in training).
• We saw a parade dominated by bagpipes (a polarizing instrument, from what I gather; I’m in the pro-bagpipe camp, myself).
• At the behest of ZGirl, we saw some of that Riverdance-style Irish dancing  (the group that we saw is evidently a big deal in the world of Irish dancing).
• And we visited the bingo tent—again, at the behest of ZGirl.  When it comes to gambling, she’s a lucky one: she won on the second try (when we went to Vegas, she won on the slots, too).

I did not drink any Guinness.  Sorry; beer is not my thing. 

Maybe we’ll live it up tonight with the $12.50 that ZGirl won.  Come to think of it, that’s almost exactly the price of one ticket to Irish Fest…