Sunday, March 2, 2008

North Texas Irish Festival




On Friday, we went to Dallas with Aislinn, Curtis, Patrick, Maire, Aine, Declan, and Rowan. We spent the night there (after we ate at Souper Salad), so we could be at the festival when it opened at 10am Saturday. We managed to just about do that...a little after 10am. It was wonderful, albeit a bit crowded. There was storytelling, little arts and crafts for the children...they made shamrock headbands, bracelets, and coloured pages. We watched Irish dancing...it was SO good. We saw some of the Emerald School of Irish Dance performers too....this is where Aislinn, Fiona, and Erin took lessons when they were small and we lived in Lewisville...and I would drive them to lessons ....just remembering the drives makes me nervous....I'd have the five children in the van and hafta negotiate/cross about 5 lanes of traffic in quick order to get off Loop 635 (I think that's what it was called).... Gary couldn't wait till he was old enough to take lessons....he was almost old enough. I think he was 5, and Tara was 3.....so (since we moved to Harlingen in March 1989) both of them had to miss taking those lessons :( I asked about Emily Touzin, our dance teacher from Dublin, but was told she would not be at the festival till today (Sunday), so we weren't able to see her again.

Anyway, the festival yesterday was fun. It was held at Fair Park, and cost $15 for adults to get in (well, Dad and I were only $13, since we are over 55 :)) the children (up to age 11) were free. There were two great halls full of vendors, dancing, arts and crafts, etc.. Outdoors there were many food vendors, music, and other stalls. We didn't see it all, and we were there till nearly 4:30 in the afternoon. We met a lady who lives in San Antonio. She is from Limerick, and her name is Jane McDaniel. She was one of the storytellers...suppossed to be the best one in the U.S. (a Seanachin). She had a little stall also, where she sold dolls and other items. She had a good Irish accent. We enjoyed listening to two of her stories.

The children were all so good, and we had been dragging them about all day (well, we took some breaks and had refreshments)...they were SO tired! Aislinn and I sent the men and four of the children to the vans about 30 mins b4 we were ready to leave, as we wanted some time to do a little shopping w/o worrying about making sure all the little ones were safely holding someone's hand... though Aislinn had Declan asleep in the wrap on her back. We found some nice items at that time, and...since the first vendor willingly offered to let us have the items for a couple of $'s less...we decided we would ply our trade on the others, so all but one was willing to drop some $'s when we asked them.....bargaining isn't a lost art:) We also bought some good Irish Soda Bread, and some cookies.

One thing that was upsetting to me....we noticed a food vendor ....a rather burly fellow in a kilt... striding along with a young man in a headlock... It seemed the young fellow grabbed an item of food without paying for it, and ran off. The vendor gave chase and caught up with him. He was very angry, and yelling for someone to get him a policeman, as he led the guy about. The kid stuck his hand in his pocket and got out some money to try and pay the vendor, but the latter wasn't having any of that! He was determined to get the police....a security guard agreed to call them. I felt terribly sorry for the young man....sure, he did something wrong....and it did appear he had money to pay for the food, had he chosen to do so. Perhaps he didn't want to line up and buy food coupons .... or perhaps he did it on a dare.... I don't know. The vendor was correct to run after him and apprehend him. However, I wish he could've said to him "you see I was able to catch you.....I can now call the police, and have you charged with theft, and you'll have a police record...however, I am going to just let you pay for the food, and hope you learn some lessons from this... lesson #1: stop doing that! lesson #2: note that someone has cut you some slack and forgiven this offense, so please go and do likewise sometime in your future....."
Aah, the look on the young man's face....close to crying, but not.....he was clean cut, short hair, no tattoos or rings to be seen....just a nice average looking young man. I am thinking that if he had been treated with the eventual compassion, that he (and others with whom he would come in contact) would probably profit from it more than what likely occurred after the police arrived. I thought to myself how many times I have felt Someone cutting me some slack.....whether it was a traffic infraction that, mercifully didn't cause an accident, went unnoticed by the police, or whatever..... I am even sorry that I didn't go and suggest that course of action to the angry vendor. I have been praying for them.

Afterwards, as we were headed home, we tried to eat at Chili's.....but the wait would have been about 45 minutes, so we opted for Taco Bell, which was right across from Chili's. We arrived home about 11:15pm.... Aislinn and family about 2 hours earlier. It was fun, and the weather was beautiful....not too hot.
(We took some photos, and I will try to figure out, soon, how to post some....unfortunately, however, after a few pics, my camera ran out of battery power, and I didn't have the spare battery {ejet}....I had just tried to video the Irish dancing, when it totally died out..)

8 comments:

fiona said...

Great post, Mom! So quick, and pictures, too...way to go :) It sounds like y'all had a great time at the Irish Festival! I would love to go again. So you did eat at Souper Salad, huh? I know it's hard to resist! Those are good memories, taking Irish dance and dancing at the Festival. Thanks for driving us all around, and paying for it, of course!

That is sad about the shoplifting guy, I agree with you that the vendor should have shown more mercy.

It looks like the kiddos had fun, well, like everyone had fun! Too bad you couldn't see Emily, she was very nice. Man, I would love to go to that festival again! Remember we went to the San Antonio ones a couple of times, and they just didn't quite measure up?!

(it sure pays off to be "old"...add up all the $2 here and there y'all have saved and you'd have a fortune! :P )

Rob and Erin said...

Wow! What a fun trip!!! Yes, good posting, Mom. Sounds like so much fun! and sounds like the children had a blast too. Patrick and Maire and Aine and Declan and Rowan, all in the perfect place for their names! We miss our cousins and really cool Auntie Aislinn and Uncle Curtis. Nice green baby sling, Aislinn! I would love to go too and take Liam and Brigit and Colin, and Rob of course too. Those were good memories. Yes, I know Fiona said that already, but she doesn't really give anyone else a chance to post first, does she!? Haha, no, I love how fast she responds or you respond, if you happen to be Fiona.

I was also sad about the vending machine guy. I hope he changed his mind, and did cut some slack. Poor boy, bad decision.

Thanks for posting the pictures, I love the sheep one, just like Liam's shirt, the many seasons of Ireland. Too bad it wasn't rainy! Just kidding, thank goodness it wasn't. Love you!

Gary Patrick Ricker said...

Sounds like you all had a fun time. To this day I wish that I had gotten to take the lessons. I remember thinking how unfair it was that I was left out. Also, I loved those festivals. I still have a shirt from one of them, I guess it must be 20+ years old (I found it in the closet at the top of the stairs a few years ago).

fiona said...

Hey! I comment when I read them! Just cause I sit at the computer 24/7 is no reason to be mean...j/k. I just like to comment when I read them, that's all...and since we happen to be several hours ahead of everyone, except Gary, THAT has got to be why I read blogs earlier. I know that makes absolutely no sense.

Also, remember when Erin and that other little girl had to dance all by themselves at the festival? That was cute, but didn't one of them, I can't remember if it was Erin or the other girl, totally stop dancing? And I think you can find a teacher in Brussels, Gary, and give your dream a chance...

fiona said...

AND, I was comment #3 on Tara's El Tigre post, not #1...so there!

Tara said...

I know, I was jealous too, Gary. I took the first week of an Irish dance class here at BYU, but it was really hard (probably because of my lack of previous dancing experience...)

The festival sounded like lots of fun, good job getting the pictures up Mom! They're so cute, although Declan doesn't look too happy in the second one...

Aislinn said...

What? Mom didn't WANT to eat at SS? We gave her a chance to opt out! ;o) It was really fun...and thank you, Erin, the green wrap was my effort to be festive. ;o)

Anonymous said...

My family loves Souper Salad too! Did you know that on Sunday's all kids less than 4 yrs eat free; over 4 get $1 off? Sign up for their free Souper Fresh Club and they will email you $1 off coupons and specials for your birthday! Not a bad deal especially if your kiddos like it as much as mine :)
Here is a link:

http://www.soupersalad.com/source/SFC/SFC_Main.aspx

Happy Eating!!!