Latest / Pittsburgh Sunday Morning / TOPIC: Executive Director of the Pittsburgh Irish Festival is Mairin Petrone

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TOPIC: Executive Director of the Pittsburgh Irish Festival is Mairin Petrone · Pittsburgh Sunday Morning

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: And welcome in. This is a public affairs program shedding
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: the light on the interest, issues, and concerns of the
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: greater Pittsburgh area. Good morning. My name is Johnny Hartwell.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: In studio, Mary Patron. Must be the Pittsburgh Irish Festival
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: is just around the corner. Good to see you.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: It's so good to see you, too.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: You look amazing.
• 0:18
  Speaker 3: Thank you.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Is that what, you know, taking care of a two-year-old?
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, running around a lot, climbing on things.
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Well, not only does the kid keep you busy, but
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  Speaker 1: you've got a festival here in a couple of days.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: I do. Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: I can't believe how quickly it's come up upon us.
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  Speaker 4: It's our 35th anniversary. Wow.
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  Speaker 2: Can you believe that? 35 years.
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  Speaker 1: And you look barely over 34.
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  Speaker 4: I was around for the first one.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: Let's just say that.
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  Speaker 1: So, yeah, 35 years. Congratulations.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much.
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  Speaker 1: Really has turned into a Pittsburgh tradition, huh?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, I think, you know, that's a testament to
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  Speaker 4: our founders, Mara and Dan Krasinski, who really laid a
• 0:54
  Speaker 4: wonderful foundation for this event, and we hope to keep
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  Speaker 4: it for at least another 35 more years.
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  Speaker 1: All right. So, I know the event is just in
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: a couple of days. It starts on the.
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  Speaker 2: September 11th, 12th, and 13th.
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  Speaker 1: Okay. Tell us everything we need to know.
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  Speaker 3: Oh, my gosh.
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  Speaker 2: How much time do you have, Johnny?
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  Speaker 1: Oh, we've got all day and all day to do it.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: Whatever you want to say.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, so we are, you know, September 11th, 12th,
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  Speaker 4: 13th at the Cary Blast Furnaces, and we are so
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  Speaker 4: excited to be celebrating our 35th anniversary.
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  Speaker 1: So, is this the... The second or third time you've
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: been at the Cary Furnace?
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: But yeah, so we are, we've got everything, everything you
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: can imagine to celebrate.
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  Speaker 4: We're celebrating the music, the food, the dancing, the shopping,
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  Speaker 4: the family activities, the stuff for kids, the cultural programs,
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  Speaker 4: the Gaelic sports. And I can get into each one
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: a little bit more, but we've got something for everyone.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: So 35 years here in Pittsburgh, looking back at where
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: it started and what it's become, what does the milestone
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: 35 years mean to you?
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  Speaker 4: To me personally, it really is a celebration of my
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  Speaker 4: family and the Irish Festival family that we've built. So
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  Speaker 4: Mara and Nan, our founders, that's my mother and my aunt.
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  Speaker 2: And they, along with.
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  Speaker 4: You know, my dad, Tom, and some other really important
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  Speaker 4: members of our family, my grandfather, they wanted to have
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: another celebration in Pittsburgh that was honoring our culture.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: And they.
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  Speaker 4: This was a labor of love and what we wanted
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  Speaker 4: to be a gift to our community and an honor
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  Speaker 4: of our culture. And so we scooped up some people
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  Speaker 4: in those first few years that are still with us,
• 2:46
  Speaker 4: that are still volunteering, that are still supporting us. And
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  Speaker 4: we've got bands that have been around for almost as long.
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  Speaker 4: And so for us, this really feels like every year
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  Speaker 4: is a family reunion. This one feels even more important
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: as a milestone year.
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  Speaker 1: I was just going to say, so you see a
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  Speaker 1: lot of the same people year after year. We do.
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  Speaker 1: What did the first year look like? What did it
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  Speaker 1: sound like? What was the size of it compared to
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  Speaker 1: where it is now? Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: So I was little.
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  Speaker 4: I was there and I was little, but I have
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  Speaker 4: some minor memories of it and some great videos. And
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  Speaker 4: So we were in Station Square, where the soccer field
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  Speaker 4: is now. And we had this beautiful backdrop of downtown
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  Speaker 4: Pittsburgh right along the river and lots of trains going by.
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  Speaker 2: But we had people show up. We had people show up.
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  Speaker 4: And you do these and you never know, right? Even
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: after 35 years, we're like, oh, people came.
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  Speaker 2: Amazing.
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  Speaker 4: But it featured Tommy Macomb, you know, the late and
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  Speaker 4: great Irish singer who really laid some foundations for Irish
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  Speaker 4: music and what it is today.
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  Speaker 2: And he was one of our performers.
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  Speaker 4: We had a lot of fantastic local performers and folks
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  Speaker 4: showed up and we had something for everyone that very
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  Speaker 4: first year. And so we have grown probably 10 times
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  Speaker 4: over since that first year in terms of our activities
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  Speaker 4: and our offerings and our number of stages. And we've But,
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  Speaker 4: you know, that first year, I'm sure, holds a special
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  Speaker 4: place in everyone's hearts.
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  Speaker 1: You know, Pittsburghers are very proud to be from Pittsburgh,
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  Speaker 1: but they're also very proud from an ethnic standpoint. And
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  Speaker 1: you don't have to be Irish to enjoy the Irish Fest.
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  Speaker 2: That's very true.
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  Speaker 1: But you're bringing a lot of the Irish culture and
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  Speaker 1: you're keeping it here and you're honoring that memory.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, you know, they call Pittsburgh the melting pot
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  Speaker 4: for a lot of reasons, but we bring You know,
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  Speaker 4: a lot of things happened in Ireland that drove immigrants.
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  Speaker 4: And with the work, because of the steel industry, people
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  Speaker 4: settled here. And so, you know, my great-great-grandmother came over
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  Speaker 4: at 16 and came to Pittsburgh. She stayed on the train.
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  Speaker 4: And she came over to Pittsburgh. And that's really how
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  Speaker 4: it all started for my family. And everyone here has
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  Speaker 4: a similar story. And we also have a lot of
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  Speaker 4: folks that travel into Pittsburgh now to come to our
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  Speaker 4: festival from multiple destinations.
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  Speaker 2: It's a great tourism opportunity. But for us... people celebrating
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  Speaker 2: their heritage feels more important now than ever.
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  Speaker 4: And we really want to honor that in our roots
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  Speaker 4: and where we came from. And also what Ireland's like now,
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  Speaker 4: what are they into now? What are they, what are they,
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  Speaker 4: what are their goals as a country? And so we're
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  Speaker 4: trying to cover all of that, but it's really important
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  Speaker 4: to us.
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  Speaker 1: You know, so many Pittsburghers visit Ireland.
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  Speaker 3: Oh yeah.
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  Speaker 1: They say, you know, Ireland, Italy and Iceland.
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  Speaker 2: Are the eyes. Yes.
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  Speaker 1: Especially Ireland. And everybody I know have known who have
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: gone to Ireland has said, what I anticipated was so
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  Speaker 1: much It was so much bigger, so much more beautiful. So,
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  Speaker 1: you know, it was a surprise when they got there.
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  Speaker 1: It was like, wow, we're going back again and again
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  Speaker 1: and again. And now they have nonstop flights to Ireland.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, we do. Thanks, Aer Lingus.
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  Speaker 4: But yeah, I mean, Ireland is truly a magical place.
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  Speaker 4: And the lore and the history behind it is truly ancient.
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  Speaker 4: And you can go and get a little bit of
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: that while you're there. You can see some of the
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  Speaker 4: ancient stuff. You can see a bustling city like Dublin.
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  Speaker 1: You can.
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  Speaker 2: check out a lot of amazing natural resources and beauty.
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  Speaker 4: The puffins, the penguins are back. I mean, there's really,
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  Speaker 4: it's really beautiful. And there's always been a deep connection
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  Speaker 4: between Pittsburgh and Ireland. If you look at the Steelers
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  Speaker 4: and the Rooney family, if you look at a lot
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  Speaker 4: of the names around Pittsburgh, Carlo University, Lawrenceville.
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  Speaker 2: We could go on and on about- I didn't know this.
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  Speaker 1: No, keep going. Yeah, yeah.
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  Speaker 4: So we actually have a presentation on um streets and
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  Speaker 4: places in pittsburgh that have irish heritage and their names
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  Speaker 4: um you know like so it can it can go
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  Speaker 4: on and on and there's so much in pittsburgh that
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  Speaker 4: the spiritans at duquesne university are from ireland if you
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  Speaker 4: know we we can even though it's a french name
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  Speaker 4: but we have so many connections and one of our
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  Speaker 4: most important things is to not just celebrate the irish
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  Speaker 4: culture in ireland but to celebrate pittsburgh's irish heritage why
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  Speaker 4: did people come over to pittsburgh What traditions did they
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  Speaker 4: bring us? We've got a really cool presentation happening from
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  Speaker 4: Dollar Bank on all the Irish immigrants that opened up
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  Speaker 4: bank accounts with Dollar Bank because they only needed a dollar.
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  Speaker 4: And they didn't have to speak English because they came
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  Speaker 4: over and they spoke Irish.
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  Speaker 2: So, yeah, we're really trying to.
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  Speaker 4: Focus on why a lot of these things happened. And then, hey,
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  Speaker 4: you know, come and learn about why you're Irish. great-grandparents
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  Speaker 4: came over to Ireland, or maybe you didn't have any
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  Speaker 4: of that at all, and you just really like the
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  Speaker 4: food and the music, there's something for you.
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  Speaker 1: All right. So, the 35th annual Pittsburgh Irish Festival is
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  Speaker 1: coming up on September 11th through the 13th at Cary
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  Speaker 1: Blass Furnace. You, obviously, it's a labor of love, and
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  Speaker 1: you've been working on this for a long, long time.
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  Speaker 2: Sure have.
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  Speaker 1: All right. So, What are some of the highlights that
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: you're excited about this year's festival?
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  Speaker 4: So I don't think I have ever been as excited
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  Speaker 4: for an entertainment lineup as I am for this year's festival.
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  Speaker 4: We are anchored by some absolutely phenomenal musicians. coming from
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  Speaker 4: all over the country and all over the world, each
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  Speaker 4: presenting a unique offering. And we've got amazing local groups,
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  Speaker 4: we've got some returning groups, and we've got some brand
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  Speaker 4: new groups that I think people are going to be
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  Speaker 4: so excited to see, and I hope they don't miss
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  Speaker 4: out on this opportunity.
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  Speaker 1: All right, speaking of, like I've downloaded some of this music. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: let's do it. Donnie Irish.
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  Speaker 2: Donnie Irish.
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  Speaker 1: That is the best name ever.
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  Speaker 2: It really is.
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  Speaker 1: All right, let's give it a little sample of that. Obviously,
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  Speaker 1: it's a nod to Donnie Iris.
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  Speaker 2: No.
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  Speaker 1: No?
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  Speaker 2: Not Donnie Iris, but that's where they got the name.
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  Speaker 1: That's what I mean. It's a nod to him, but
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  Speaker 1: it's somebody who is celebrating Pittsburgh and Irish background. So
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  Speaker 1: tell me about Donnie.
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  Speaker 4: So, Da Honey Irish is led by a good friend
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  Speaker 4: of the festival and a friend of mine, Ricky Manning.
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  Speaker 4: He is an Allegheny County Sheriff, and he has been
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  Speaker 4: performing at the festival for, gosh, maybe 20 years now.
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  Speaker 4: He's been around and he's been performing with his band
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  Speaker 4: and They are one of those true staples of Pittsburgh
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  Speaker 4: Irish music. And they come and they put on a
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  Speaker 4: really fun, lively show. And they're great guys. No matter
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  Speaker 4: what you do, you're going to have your toes tapping
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  Speaker 4: and your hands clapping.
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  Speaker 5: All right.
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  Speaker 1: So who are you most excited to see? And hopefully
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: I have a clip. Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: I don't think I can pick a favorite because I'm
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: not going to do that to them.
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  Speaker 2: But I got to talk about Bird.
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: Okay. I do have a copy. Yeah. You're going to
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: hear a lot of fiddles at the RFM.
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: Course you are, yeah.
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  Speaker 1: So this is Bird with Two Eyes.
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  Speaker 2: Bird with Two Eyes, yeah, because it's 11 women.
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  Speaker 4: They're coming over from Ireland, led by the amazingly talented
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: Lisa Canney. And they are opening up for Ed Sheeran
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: right now.
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  Speaker 1: Wow.
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  Speaker 2: Ed Sheeran.
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  Speaker 1: I've heard of him.
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: Have you heard of him? Yeah. Yeah. He's red hair.
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  Speaker 2: Recognize him.
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  Speaker 4: So they're on tour with Ed Sheeran opening up and
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  Speaker 4: they happen to have a few weekends open and we
• 10:21
  Speaker 4: snatched them up as soon as we possibly could. They
• 10:24
  Speaker 4: are probably one of the largest and fastest growing traditional
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: Irish music bands.
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  Speaker 2: In the world right now. And they are lively. They're energetic.
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  Speaker 4: They're some of the most talented women I've ever seen
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  Speaker 4: perform live. And so I cannot wait for people to
• 10:38
  Speaker 4: see them.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: So there's obviously Irish festivals around the country. How does
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: Pittsburgh's festival compare to maybe another city?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, so we're actually members of the Association of Irish
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: and Celtic Festivals. So there's about like 120, 150 of
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: those in the United States and Canada. And we are
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: all friends. So we're not, you know, some people think, oh,
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: they're your competitors. No, we're all really good friends.
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: We have a group chat.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: Because you all have, you know, the traditional beginnings and.
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: Then you're trying to accomplish certain things.
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  Speaker 6: Absolutely.
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  Speaker 1: And when you're putting a festival together, it's like a
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: huge jigsaw. You have to kind of fit the acts
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: and maybe touring schedules and things like that.
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
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  Speaker 4: And, you know, it makes sense for an Irish artist
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: to get a visa and come and see all of us.
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  Speaker 4: But yeah, so we're probably in maybe the top 10
• 11:22
  Speaker 4: largest Irish and Celtic festivals in the country.
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  Speaker 2: And so we're really proud of that.
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  Speaker 4: We are, you know, some of the larger ones, Milwaukee
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: Irish Festival, Dublin, Ohio Irish Festival, Kansas City Irish Festival,
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  Speaker 4: Michigan Irish Music Festival. they're all kind of within a
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: couple weeks of us, and so the bands will route
• 11:38
  Speaker 4: themselves from one of us to the next, and then
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: we also go and travel to those other festivals to
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: see what they're doing, what can we learn from them,
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: what bands can we see that they have that we don't,
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: and that's how we find a lot of what we
• 11:50
  Speaker 4: do at our events.
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: All right, we're talking more music. Who else do you
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: want to highlight?
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: I can't not mention Allie the Piper.
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, in fact, she performs more than once, huh?
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah, she's going to perform every day of the festival
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: this year, all three days.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: And this is her version of Ozzy Osbourne.
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, on the.
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: Pipes, on the bagpipes. I know.
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: So talk about, so Allie's a good friend of mine,
• 12:21
  Speaker 4: and she is a great person and an absolutely phenomenal musician.
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  Speaker 4: And Allie has taken an instrument that has such a history.
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: You know, almost every country has its versions of bagpipes.
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: And she's really honed in on the Celtic bagpipe, the
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: Highland pipes, the small pipes. And she took it and
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: she created a whole new generation of people who are
• 12:43
  Speaker 4: interested in the bagpipe. Because she's this phenomenal genius of
• 12:48
  Speaker 4: a traditional bagpiper, world champion bagpiper, and put things like
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: Metallica on it.
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: And Ozzy Osbourne.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, she is... Absolutely phenomenal. She sings as well.
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: She's got a great band. I love her band.
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: And they have become one of Pittsburgh's favorites. And she
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: comes here often and performs often. And she is not
• 13:10
  Speaker 4: to be missed.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: And she's performing every single day.
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: Every single day. So you don't have an excuse, pretty much.
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  Speaker 2: You can't miss her.
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: Is there anybody else you want to highlight?
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: I do. I want to highlight the Brigidines.
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: Tell me more.
• 13:32
  Speaker 5: All right.
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: So the Brigidines was a side project created by Eileen Ivers.
• 13:37
  Speaker 4: Eileen Ivers is a Grammy-winning, Emmy-nominated, nine-time All-Ireland fiddle champion.
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: She is one of, if not the best Irish fiddle
• 13:46
  Speaker 4: player in the world. And she put together a side
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: project for an event we do called Bridget, which honors St.
• 13:51
  Speaker 5: Bridget.
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: And she brought all of these amazing women from the
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: Celtic music space together.
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: Who you heard on vocals was.
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: Caitlin Maloney, who will give you chills every time she sings.
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: And so this project is, she brought women together for
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: our event Bridgett, And since then, they have grown tremendously.
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: They're touring the country. They have a new album out
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: that's going to be available for the first time at
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: the Pittsburgh Irish Festival.
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: Oh, wow. Okay.
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: And they're performing on Saturday and Sunday of the event.
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: And they are, like I said, I can't pick a favorite,
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: but they are truly, truly phenomenal.
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: You know, it's just too bad you're not passionate about
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: this festival.
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: I know.
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: Not at all. Not at all.
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: You know, I got to say, some of the reasons
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: I go to the other festivals.
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: is because I love these performers so much that I
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: don't always get the time during my event to enjoy them.
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: And so I go to make sure I get to
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: see them because I love what they're doing so much.
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: I'm a true fan.
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: I'm a true fan. Yeah, so you're so busy doing,
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: you know, because you're executive director. You've got the executive
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: director stuff you've got to do. Right. And you don't
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: get to maybe soak in some of the performances.
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but I'm a fan.
• 14:53
  Speaker 4: I listen to their music all the time. I watch
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: their videos they post. I recommend following these folks on
• 14:59
  Speaker 4: social media in advance of the festival. get a taste
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: of what you're going to see from them, support them,
• 15:04
  Speaker 4: get their merchandise, buy their albums. But I will make
• 15:09
  Speaker 4: sure to sneak out of the office to catch a
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: few minutes of each of these groups.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: 35th Annual Pittsburgh Irish Festival, September 11th, 13th. Just a
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: couple days away.
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: I know.
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: Carrie, blast furnace. All right, let's talk food. You got
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: to come hungry, right?
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: You do have to come hungry. And I'll tell you what.
• 15:27
  Speaker 4: So for the 35th anniversary, I went to all of
• 15:30
  Speaker 4: our Irish food vendors. And I said, I want you
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: to do something new in honor of the 35th anniversary.
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: And they all said, okay. So we've got a lot
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: of new items coming for the festival this year. You
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: got chills?
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: You're excited for the food? All right.
• 15:44
  Speaker 4: So our Kells Bay, which is our Irish seafood booth, because.
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: People often forget Ireland's an island.
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: We talk about potatoes and meat a lot, but they
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: have phenomenal seafood. So they're introducing a new clam chowder.
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: in addition to the delicious fish and chips and other
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: offerings that they have. McCarrick's, which is another traditional Irish
• 16:04
  Speaker 4: food vendor, is introducing a Reuben, which is like Ireland's
• 16:08
  Speaker 4: famous sandwich.
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: I love Reuben's.
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: I know, Reuben's is going to be so good.
• 16:11
  Speaker 4: And then Maren's Irish Kitchen, which was, yes, named after me,
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: they're introducing an Irish cheesesteak, which is going to be
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: a Guinness-flavored... steak, uh, on an Irish, at an Irish
• 16:25
  Speaker 4: cheese steak. And, you know, it's not the most traditional thing,
• 16:27
  Speaker 4: but it's, it's new and it's fun and it's exciting. And,
• 16:29
  Speaker 4: you know, they also have Irish stew. We've got bread pudding,
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: we've got shepherd's pie, we've got coal cannon. We really, um,
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: you know, definitely come hungry. Uh, it's, that's the most
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: important thing I can say. is we've got room for
• 16:43
  Speaker 4: lots of food and drinks.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: All right. So we mentioned a little bit about the entertainment.
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: We talked a little bit about the food, but you
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: mentioned Guinness. And is there any adult beverages that people
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: can imbibe?
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: Yes. I will tell you all about the adult beverages.
• 16:57
  Speaker 4: But before I do, I want you to know that
• 16:58
  Speaker 4: this is a family-friendly event. And so whether you drink
• 17:03
  Speaker 4: or not, we've got something for you to enjoy. And
• 17:06
  Speaker 4: so even in addition to Guinness, we've got Guinness Zero.
• 17:09
  Speaker 4: So if you prefer any beverages, we've got an option
• 17:12
  Speaker 4: for you there. Um, we are going to have cider
• 17:14
  Speaker 4: boys cider. We're going to have tealing Irish whiskey. We're
• 17:17
  Speaker 4: going to have Jameson. We're going to have five farms,
• 17:19
  Speaker 4: Irish cream. We're working with a local distiller, love Katie distilling.
• 17:23
  Speaker 4: Who's doing a special cocktail with five farms, Irish cream. Uh,
• 17:26
  Speaker 4: we've got some higher end whiskeys that maybe you'll never
• 17:30
  Speaker 4: spend a thousand dollars on a bottle of whiskey, but
• 17:32
  Speaker 4: you might, you might go for one drink of it
• 17:33
  Speaker 4: at the festival. So, there's some specialty options available there.
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: Like what? I mean, you know.
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: So, Red Breast 27 Years. Yeah.
• 17:41
  Speaker 4: I think you can get it for $ 700 at the
• 17:44
  Speaker 4: local state store.
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: Now you can get it just.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: One taste of it.
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: A little taste.
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: You see if you want a little taste.
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: And so, we really try to create the experience that,
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: you know, you can sample different things.
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: We've got a lot of different samples. We do some
• 17:55
  Speaker 4: really fun, creative cocktails. One of my favorite cocktails is the.
• 18:01
  Speaker 4: Dewar's lemon wedge doors is a scotch and it's it's
• 18:04
  Speaker 4: lemon like dewar's lemonade um club soda and it's a
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: really really delicious refreshing drink and they were sponsors of
• 18:11
  Speaker 4: the u.s open and that was a future drink at
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: the u.s open um we also have the another favorite
• 18:16
  Speaker 4: of mine the five farms chocolate truffle which is five
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: farms irish cream and chocolate vodka and it's uh absolutely
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: sweet and delicious. Um, but yeah, we also have a
• 18:27
  Speaker 4: lot of NA products. So, um, we've got any whiskey. Um,
• 18:30
  Speaker 4: so it's called spirit, um, 74 and, uh, spirit list 74.
• 18:34
  Speaker 4: I mean, so there's, it's a non-alcoholic whiskey. We've got
• 18:37
  Speaker 4: the Guinness zero and we have a designated driver program.
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: So if you want to come and you're planning to
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: drive everyone home, we'll give you two free non-alcoholic beverages
• 18:43
  Speaker 4: on us. Okay.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: And you, So, again, it's a family-friendly event, so if
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: that's not your thing, that's no problem.
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: But if it is your thing, we got you covered.
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: We got you covered in the food and the entertainment.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: But how important is, not only is you want them
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: entertained and you want them fed, but how important is
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: it for you to teach people here in Pittsburgh about
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: the Irish tradition?
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: It's the most important. And I would say that.
• 19:13
  Speaker 4: You mentioned the food and the drink and the entertainment.
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: That's educational for us as well.
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: So every beat that you hear.
• 19:20
  Speaker 4: From the music, every bite of food you have, especially
• 19:22
  Speaker 4: if you've never had it before, every sip of every drink,
• 19:24
  Speaker 4: that's part of the Irish culture. In addition to those things,
• 19:28
  Speaker 4: we have entire areas dedicated to cultural education. We've got
• 19:32
  Speaker 4: a Celtic wellness area where we focus a lot on
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: Ireland's ancient Celtic traditions. We'll be doing some widow, which
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: is a Celtic form of yoga. We're going to be
• 19:41
  Speaker 4: doing some meditation where we explore some of the history
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: of Ireland 3,000, 4,000 years ago. We're going to have
• 19:46
  Speaker 4: our own little stone circle this year where we have
• 19:48
  Speaker 4: that occur.
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: We have a stage that's dedicated to Irish culture.
• 19:53
  Speaker 4: It's called the hedge school because when the penal laws
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: were governing Ireland from the British, they literally would teach
• 19:59
  Speaker 4: and pass down their lore behind hedges in Ireland. And
• 20:02
  Speaker 4: so that's why that name comes from. But we've got
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: Irish language lessons. We've got instrument demonstrations. We've got book readings.
• 20:09
  Speaker 4: We've got author presentations. We've got storytelling.
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: You said you have the Irish language lesson.
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the Gaelic.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: Do you know any of it?
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: You know, I know a couple.
• 20:20
  Speaker 4: Kedmafalja, 100,000 welcomes.
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: I know a couple swear words.
• 20:25
  Speaker 4: But I actually have been making it a goal of
• 20:28
  Speaker 4: mine for, you know, in the next year or two
• 20:29
  Speaker 4: to pick up a little bit more.
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: And I hope that... I can. It's a very difficult language.
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: They don't teach swear words at your wedding.
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: No, I mean, there might.
• 20:39
  Speaker 4: Be a t-shirt or two you can find one on.
• 20:42
  Speaker 4: But we really do try to incorporate as much of
• 20:44
  Speaker 4: the language as we can. It's really having a resurgence
• 20:47
  Speaker 4: right now.
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: That's awesome. Is there anything new to this year's festival
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: that you want to highlight?
• 20:52
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so we've got a couple new things. The first
• 20:54
  Speaker 4: one is we're doing floral arrangements. So the Five Farms
• 20:58
  Speaker 4: Irish Cream comes in these beautiful kind of like milk
• 21:01
  Speaker 4: carton glass bottles, and we have a massive sustainability program
• 21:06
  Speaker 4: at our festival. And so we're always finding new ways
• 21:08
  Speaker 4: to like recycle and reuse and reduce. And so we're
• 21:11
  Speaker 4: going to take all of the empty Five Farms Irish
• 21:15
  Speaker 4: Cream bottles, and we're going to host floral arrangement lessons
• 21:18
  Speaker 4: from Esther's Flowers, which is located on the south side
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: of different kinds of plants, you know, made in Ireland,
• 21:24
  Speaker 4: plants coming from Ireland, native to Ireland, or Irish-inspired Things
• 21:27
  Speaker 4: like shamrocks and Essers Flowers is going to be there
• 21:30
  Speaker 4: and show folks how to create a beautiful bouquet of
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: flowers in the Five Farms Irish Cream Bottle. So that's
• 21:35
  Speaker 4: part of our sustainability program. We're also doing a new
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: giveaway this year. So each year we give away a
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: trip to Ireland. This year we're giving away three trips
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: to Ireland. So one is focused on a small group tour.
• 21:48
  Speaker 4: One is just your airfare there and back. And one
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: is a golf tour. So golf is huge. The Ryder
• 21:54
  Speaker 4: Cup is in Ireland next year. As you can imagine,
• 21:57
  Speaker 4: you know, golf came out of Scotland, but it's very
• 21:59
  Speaker 4: close to our Celtic cousin. So we're giving away a
• 22:01
  Speaker 4: golf trip for two to Ireland as well. So that's new.
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: And we're really excited to expand on that. You know,
• 22:06
  Speaker 4: the partnership that Pittsburgh now has with Aerolingus on the
• 22:09
  Speaker 4: direct flight has really helped with that. We're expanding a
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: lot of different areas. We're doing Irish trivia. So if
• 22:15
  Speaker 4: you think you know about Ireland, now's your time to
• 22:17
  Speaker 4: come and prove yourself. We're going to have some great prizes.
• 22:21
  Speaker 4: But yeah, like I said, new food items, new bands,
• 22:24
  Speaker 4: new kids activities, lots of fun stuff.
• 22:26
  Speaker 6: All right.
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: So it's just a couple of days away. Kicks off
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: on September 11th at the Cary Blast Furnace. It runs
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: all the way through the 13th. Is there any particular
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: sponsors that you want to mention? Sure.
• 22:38
  Speaker 4: I mean, Tealing Irish Whiskey, DeWars Scotch Whiskey, Five Farms
• 22:43
  Speaker 4: Irish Cream. I got to give a shout out to
• 22:46
  Speaker 4: our friends at State Farm. They're coming in and having
• 22:50
  Speaker 4: a booth where you can get yourself on a bobblehead. Um,
• 22:53
  Speaker 4: love Katie distilling is a great.
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: Say that again. Yeah.
• 22:56
  Speaker 4: They print your picture out and you can put it
• 22:57
  Speaker 4: on a bobblehead. It's very cool. Yeah.
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: It's part of their neighborhood crew.
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: That's a, you gotta come and get one or I
• 23:04
  Speaker 4: can send me your photo. I'll get one for you. Um,
• 23:06
  Speaker 4: but yeah, I, I'm, I'm so grateful for our sponsors. Um,
• 23:08
  Speaker 4: Casey Mullen law, we couldn't do this without them. Um,
• 23:12
  Speaker 4: and you know, we're, we're so grateful for their support. Um, that,
• 23:16
  Speaker 4: you know, they, they, they help us keep doing this
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: every year.
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: And what about families? If mom and dad are thinking
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: about bringing the kids, um, What is there for them
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: to see and do?
• 23:25
  Speaker 4: We have an entire children's activity area. So we've got
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: lots of unique custom games that we've created. We've got everything,
• 23:32
  Speaker 4: you know, castle, Irish castle themed bounce houses for kids
• 23:36
  Speaker 4: to play in.
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: We've got crafts, anything from making St.
• 23:39
  Speaker 4: Bridget's crosses to learning about the Vikings and what they
• 23:42
  Speaker 4: did in Ireland and coloring sheets, lots and lots of
• 23:45
  Speaker 4: stuff for kids. There is also a lot of our
• 23:48
  Speaker 4: programming is kid-friendly. So a great example, Eileen Ivers, who
• 23:51
  Speaker 4: we talked about before, Grammy-winning, she's also an award-winning children's
• 23:55
  Speaker 4: book author. And so she has a book called Nobody
• 23:58
  Speaker 4: Wants to Play Bluey, which is about a blue violin,
• 24:00
  Speaker 4: and it's an anti-bullying story. It won the Family Choice
• 24:03
  Speaker 4: Awards for children's books when it came out. She's going
• 24:06
  Speaker 4: to be reading that book and performing alongside of it
• 24:10
  Speaker 4: for children. So there'll be great opportunities to hear her
• 24:13
  Speaker 4: perform in her children's book. And And so we've got
• 24:16
  Speaker 4: lots for folks to do of all ages. And, you know,
• 24:20
  Speaker 4: also if the parents want date night out, get a sitter.
• 24:23
  Speaker 4: And there's really, really fun opportunities for those two as well.
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: And when does it start? Like during the day? I
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: know it starts on the 11th, 12th, and 13th. Yeah.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: But there's events that go on all day. When does
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: it start? Yeah.
• 24:34
  Speaker 4: So Friday of the festival starts at 4 p.m. So
• 24:36
  Speaker 4: if you can sneak out of work a little bit early,
• 24:38
  Speaker 4: if you get there before 6, we're going to give
• 24:40
  Speaker 4: you our highest discounted ticket.
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: Which is just $ 12 for admission. Saturday, it's 11 a.m.
• 24:45
  Speaker 4: To 11 p.m., and then Sunday morning, we actually kick
• 24:47
  Speaker 4: off with an Irish Mass, where we'll have some speaking
• 24:50
  Speaker 4: in Gaelic and some Irish music that's incorporated into the Mass,
• 24:53
  Speaker 4: and then the festival itself kicks off at 11 a.m.,
• 24:55
  Speaker 4: and we go until 5 on that Sunday.
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: You know, there's such a strong connection with Pittsburgh and
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: the Irish community. Is that part of the reason why it's...
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: gone for 35 years i.
• 25:07
  Speaker 4: Think so i i think there's a couple i think
• 25:10
  Speaker 4: the irish culture is is universally enjoyed whether you're irish
• 25:13
  Speaker 4: or not um you could have never heard it before
• 25:15
  Speaker 4: and you might like the music you might like the
• 25:16
  Speaker 4: food you might like the the drinks you might like
• 25:18
  Speaker 4: the the stories i think that we do have a
• 25:21
  Speaker 4: massive irish population here in pittsburgh i think we're the
• 25:24
  Speaker 4: second largest um in the county claiming irish ancestry behind
• 25:28
  Speaker 4: german so many folks settled here so many folks love
• 25:31
  Speaker 4: their irish culture we're so lucky to have a And
• 25:35
  Speaker 4: so as a community, we have really kept some of
• 25:38
  Speaker 4: those traditions going as best as we can. We've got
• 25:40
  Speaker 4: a wonderful parade. We've got lots of Irish dance schools
• 25:44
  Speaker 4: and Irish music and Irish pubs. And so I think
• 25:46
  Speaker 4: that we've really created a strong culture base here in Pittsburgh,
• 25:50
  Speaker 4: and I think that's why.
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: And one of those Irish traditions is the festival. Yes, yes.
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: And it was started with your family, and you've taken
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: on that role. that role as executive director, you've been
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: part of this festival for a long, long time. Is
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: there anything else? Is there still some moments where you go, wow,
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: I can't believe we pulled that off?
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: Every year. Every year.
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: I mean, one of the reasons that I love doing
• 26:15
  Speaker 4: this is because of my passion about community building and
• 26:18
  Speaker 4: community gatherings. I think getting together as a community is so,
• 26:22
  Speaker 4: so important. And I go, wow, every time I see
• 26:26
  Speaker 4: folks lining up to get in, And I feel honored
• 26:29
  Speaker 4: to be a part of this. I feel honored that
• 26:32
  Speaker 4: my family has worked on this. And I look around
• 26:34
  Speaker 4: and I see my family working. I see my daughter
• 26:36
  Speaker 4: running around now. I see my nephews helping in our
• 26:39
  Speaker 4: food booths. And I'm really passionate about it. And I
• 26:43
  Speaker 4: go wow probably a thousand times during the festival weekend.
• 26:46
  Speaker 4: I go wow when I hear the music. I go
• 26:48
  Speaker 4: wow when I take my first bite of stew every year.
• 26:50
  Speaker 4: I really feel amazed. I mean, my wife, Brittany... you know,
• 26:55
  Speaker 4: she married into this. She didn't choose, you know, she
• 26:57
  Speaker 4: didn't choose to sign up for this.
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: You don't have to be Irish, but once you're part
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: of the family, it's part of your culture.
• 27:03
  Speaker 4: Don't worry.
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: She is Irish.
• 27:05
  Speaker 4: But she, but we, we, you know, I, I look
• 27:08
  Speaker 4: around and I feel love and I feel loved and
• 27:11
  Speaker 4: I feel loved by the community.
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: And I hope that people continue to come out.
• 27:14
  Speaker 3: Support us.
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: All right. We only have a couple of minutes. Every
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: time I talk to you, the time just flies by.
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: Give me your elevator pitch for, Oh, the elevator pitch.
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: Okay. All right.
• 27:24
  Speaker 4: 35th anniversary, Pittsburgh Irish Festival, September 11th till 13th at
• 27:28
  Speaker 4: the Cary Blass Furnaces. We have four stages of live
• 27:32
  Speaker 4: music and dance. We've got cultural programming. We've got children's programming.
• 27:35
  Speaker 4: We've got a genealogy area where you can trace your roots.
• 27:38
  Speaker 4: We've got Irish dogs. Oh my gosh, have you seen
• 27:41
  Speaker 4: an Irish wolfhound? They're taller than anybody I know. we've
• 27:44
  Speaker 4: got lots of kids activities. We've got an Irish marketplace.
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: It's September.
• 27:48
  Speaker 4: You got to start thinking about Christmas shopping. We have
• 27:51
  Speaker 4: something for you or the Irish or the Irish person
• 27:52
  Speaker 4: in your family. It's a great gift opportunity.
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: Delicious food and drinks. Amazing music.
• 27:57
  Speaker 4: I could go on and on, but I know we're
• 27:58
  Speaker 4: only on the elevator for probably 30 seconds.
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: So that's my elevator pitch.
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: That's amazing. Mara, it's always great to see you. And
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: you look fabulous.
• 28:06
  Speaker 5: Thank you.
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: Thank you. And you look younger.
• 28:10
  Speaker 4: Oh, really?
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: There you go. Don't tell anybody how old I am.
• 28:13
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: The Cary Blass Furnace is the place. It's coming up
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: in just a few days. The website to get all
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: the information and the agenda of everything that's happening next weekend.
• 28:24
  Speaker 4: It's pghirishfest.org, and everything you need to know about the
• 28:29
  Speaker 4: festival is there. You can follow us on Facebook, Instagram, pghirishfest,
• 28:34
  Speaker 4: and you can call us. You can reach out to
• 28:37
  Speaker 4: us if you've got questions, but we hope to see
• 28:40
  Speaker 4: you there.
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: Awesome. Again, what's the website? PGHIrishFest.org. Yes. Maren Patron, the
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: Irish Festival. If you want more information, again, the website
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: is PGHIrishFest.org. Always good to see you. Good to see you, too.
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much, and good luck with your event.
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: As always, if you have any comments, a concern, or
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: an idea for a future program, please email us from
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: this ReuStations website. I'm Johnny Hartwell. Thank you so much
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: for listening.
• 29:05
  Speaker 3: Thank you.
• 29:24
  Speaker 6: Hey, life doesn't stop when cancer starts. Some don't make
• 29:28
  Speaker 6: it to treatment simply because they don't have a ride.
• 29:31
  Speaker 6: You can change that. Volunteer to drive with the American
• 29:33
  Speaker 6: Cancer Society Road to Recovery Program. Visit cancer.org slash drive
• 29:38
  Speaker 6: to learn more.
• 29:39
  Speaker 5: Hi, this is Jim Joyce, Executive Director for the Myasthenia
• 29:41
  Speaker 5: Gravis Association of Western Pennsylvania. I'd like to invite you
• 29:45
  Speaker 5: to this year's Comedy for a Cause, taking place on Saturday,
• 29:47
  Speaker 5: October 10th at the Kennedy Township Volunteer Fire Department Banquet Hall.
• 29:51
  Speaker 5: For more information or to get tickets, call 412-566-1545. Again,
• 29:53
  Speaker 5: that's 412-566-1545.