Irish Week 2005, Seattle
By JOHN KEANE
March 11, Noon, Proclamation Luncheon, Fx Mcrory's
The 34th Annual Proclamations of Irish Week. Among the special guests will be Seattle's Mayor Greg Nickels, Galway Mayor Catherine Connolly, Lisburn Mayor Cecil Calvert, St. Patrick's Day parade grand marshal State Attorney General Rob McKenna, honorary parade grand marshal Mazie McFarland, and other dignitaries. Tickets for the salmon lunch are $25 per person. For information and reservations (before March 9), call (206) 361-1713 or e-mail: lunch@irishclub.org.
March 11, 7 Pm, Green Stripe Laying On 4th Avenue
This is a fun event to mark a green line along the route of the St. Patrick's Day parade, down the center of Fourth Avenue. We officially start from Jefferson Street at 7 PM, but you're invited to gather at FX McRory's at 6:30 PM to ride the truck or trolley. Children and adults are welcome and there's no charge to participate. For information, call (425) 290-7839 or e-mail: IrishWeek@irishclub.org.
March 12, 12:20 Pm - Irish Flag-Raising
The parade Grand Marshals and other dignitaries join the King County Executive in the raising of the Irish tricolor in front of the King-County Administration Building, followed by the playing of the Irish and U.S. national anthems.
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| ROB McKENNA this year’s Parade Grand Marshal. |
12:30 Pm - St. Patrick's Day Parade
The St. Patrick's Day parade grand marshal Rob McKenna and the honorary parade grand marshal Mazie McFarland, lead Seattle's 34th annual St. Patrick's Day parade up Fourth Avenue from Jefferson Street. Organized marching groups must pre-register at www.irishclub.org/parade.htm, but individuals are welcome to march with any group they like.
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| ST. PATRICK tries an alternative form of transportation at the annual parade in Seattle. |
The parade travels north from Jefferson, and after passing the reviewing stand at Westlake, goes from there via the Monorail (free from Westlake from 12-3 PM) to the Seattle Center for closing ceremonies in Center House at 2 PM. For more information, call (425) 290-7839 or email IrishWeek@irishclub.org.
March 12, 7 Pm - Friends Of St. Patrick Banquet, Seattle
A Black-Tie-Optional dinner and dance, the 65th annual dinner of the Society of the Friends of St. Patrick is at the Red Lion Hotel on Fifth Avenue at Union in downtown Seattle. The Friends are an institution in Seattle since 1941 and annually raise thousands for charity. Tickets are $75 per person for tickets and information, call (425) 290-7839 or e-mail: Friends@irishclub.org.
March 13, 9 Am, St. Patrick's Day Dash
A nearly four-mile run downhill from TS McHugh's near the Space Needle to FX McRory's near Safeco Field! Over 12,000 runners are expected and registration closes March 12. There is NO race day registration. For more information, call 800-343-4411, or visit www.stpatsdash.com
March 13, 6 Pm, Matt Talbot Dinner
This is the annual fund-raiser at FX McRory's Restaurant for the downtown Seattle program for the homeless that is named for Dubliner Matt Talbot. Suggested donation is $65 per person. For information on the programs of Seattle's Matt Talbot Center, or for dinner tickets, visit www.matttalbotcenter.org, call (206) 256-9865 or e-mail: Talbot@irishclub.org.
March 17, St. Patrick's Day, 12 Noon, Mass For Peace, Plymouth Congregational Church
There is a tremendous symbolism in this annual gathering of Catholics and others on St. Patrick's Day in a Protestant Church for a Catholic Mass for Peace in Ireland. The Presider at the Mass is Seattle Archbishop Alexander Brunett and the Homilist this year is Bishop Anthony Farquhar from Belfast, Northern Ireland. The church is located at Six and University downtown Seattle. For more information, see www.irishclub.org/mass.htm, call (425) 290-7839, or email Mass@irishclub.org.
March 17, St. Patrick's Day, 2 Pm, St. Patrick's Day Luncheon, Fx Mcrory's
A special St. Patrick's Day luncheon with our guests from Ireland follows the Mass for Peace. Just a relaxing luncheon away from the madding crowd! Order from the menu, but reservations are required by March 14. To book call (206) 223-9403, or e-mail: patsluncheon@irishclub.org
Order Of March
The Order of Divisional Banners for Seattle's St. Patrick's Day parade on March 12 has been changed from previous years. The 2005 Order is: St. Patrick Banner, Munster Banner, Leinster Banner, Connacht Banner, Ulster Banner. Almost 40 groups, including seven bands, have already registered for the parade, with the 250-member Golden Regiment Band from Sonora, California, being the largest group.
Dublin Theatre
The Jewel Box Theatre in Poulsbo is planning a fund-raising trip to the Dublin Theatre Festival (www.dublintheatrefestival.com) from October 2-11. For the itinerary and more information on one of Ireland's premier cultural events, visit www.jewelboxpoulsbo.org.
Irish Language
The Irish Language School in Kirkland starts basic Irish conversation classes on Wednesday nights at 7 PM from April 13 to June 15, and also classes on Saturday mornings at 9 AM from April 16 to June 25. The courses of 10 classes are for students who have had minimal exposure to the Irish language. For more information, contact Aidan Maher at (425) 823-1553 or thepaycock@juno.com.
Condolences
To Portland's Mary Rose Kerg of Portland's 32 County on the recent death of her mother in County Longford.
Galway's St. Nicholas
For the first time since 1691, Catholic Mass is being celebrated in St. Nicholas's Collegiate Church in Galway, Seattle's Sister City. Dating from 1320, St. Nicholas was taken over by the Williamites in 1691 and since then has been a Church of Ireland (Anglican) Church. Now members of Galway's Catholic Augustinian parish, whose church is closing for renovation, will celebrate Sunday masses there following the Church of Ireland offer to accommodate them. St. Nicholas is one of the best-preserved medieval churches in Ireland and Columbus prayed there on one of his expeditions before setting off to the New World.
Irish Rock
the Everett Symphony and the Jeans n' Classics band hosts a St. Patrick's Celebration of Irish Rock on March 13 at 3 PM at Everett Civic Auditorium. They will be performing the music of U2, Van Morrison, Enya, and your favorite Irish rockers. Call (425) 257-8382 or visit www.everettsymphony.org.
Whidbey Parade
The 32nd annual St. Patrick's Day parade organized by the Irish Wildlife Society of Whidbey Island starts at 4 PM, March 17, from Pioneer Way and Jensen Street in Oak Harbor. Grand Marshal is Patrick Quinn, and dignitaries include Oak Harbor Mayor Patty Cohen and Naval Air Station Whidbey Island Commanding Officer, Captain Syd Abernethy.
Irish Music and Dance
Paddy Keenan at the Conor Byrne Pub in Ballard, March 10, and in Bellingham on March 12 (www.paddykeenan.com).
Michael Flatley's Lord Of The Dance in Seattle for six performances, March 10-13 at the 5th Avenue Theatre. Visit www.5thavenuetheatre.org.
The Frames at The Crocodile on March 11, www.theframes.ie.
Trinity Irish Dance Company at the Pantages Theatre in Tacoma, March 19 ( www.broadwaycenter.org).
Dervish at the Tractor, March 20 (www.dervish.ie).
Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill at the Tractor on April 13 (www.martinhayes.com).
U2 at a sold-out Key Arena on April 24.
New Irish Pub
Best wishes to Chris Purdy and Gareth Etchells on the opening of their new Irish Pub, The Atlantic Crossing Pub, at 6508 Roosevelt Way NE (near Green Lake just North of 65th), telephone (206) 729-6266.
Portland Sculpture
A five-ton sculpture measuring 13-feet high is being shipped from Donegal to Portland where it will be erected as a Famine memorial. The sculpture, with intricate Celtic, Roman and Greek imagery, is a replica of the Cross of the Scriptures at Clonmacnoise. The Famine memorial is appropriate because it coincided with the time of the Oregon Trail in the 1850s. At that time, 30 percent of foreign-born residents of Oregon were Irish. Supporters of the project in Portland have already raised over $100,000 and plans are for the monument to be installed at Portland's Mount Calvary cemetery before St. Patrick's Day 2006.
Champion Dancers
Two Seattle-area stepdancers placed at the All Ireland Irish Dance Championships in Belfast in February. Owen Barrington was second in the men's competition, while Kelly Nagan ranked eighth in the ladies. Both dancers study with the Tony Comerford School of Irish Dance in Seattle.
Parade Grand Marshal
Rob McKenna was elected Washington State Attorney General last November. For the past nine years, Rob was a member of the Metropolitan King County Council, where he gained a reputation as a regional and statewide leader on transportation, land use and fiscal policy. Married for 17 years, he and his wife Marilyn have four children, ages 4-15.
Rob's family in Ireland was originally from Cork, but around the time of the Famine, 1845-51, they moved to the Buncrana area in County Donegal. In 1867, Rob's great-grandfather, Mike McKenna, emigrated to the U.S. along with another brother. Once they arrived, both brothers headed west and homesteaded in Iowa in the 1870s, helping launch Storm Lake, Iowa, the town where Rob's father grew up. Rob has been unable to trace any remaining relatives in Ireland.
Honorary Parade Grand Marshal
Mazie McFarland – Mary Brigid "Mazie" – McFarland (87) was born in 1919 in Carrick-on-Suir, near the Comeragh mountains in County Tipperary, Ireland. She was the granddaughter of Robert Weldon, the great Gaelic-speaking poet and Irish language enthusiast from the 1800s who was known as the “Bard of the Comeraghs.”
Mazie came to the United States in 1946 and moved to the then “boondocks,” the Lynnwood area, where she still lives in the same house she moved into in 1948. She has two children, Terry and Patricia, and now has two granddaughters, two great-grandsons and one great-granddaughter. Mazie worked for the Lynnwood school district for 26 years and retired in 1989. Since she arrived in the Seattle area, she has always been very involved in anything Irish and also in her local St. Thomas More Parish. She is very honored to serve as Honorary Grand Marshal of the 2005 St. Patrick's Day parade.
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