Weekend Goodness: Irish Fest Edition

Milwaukee Irish Fest is one of the best weekends of the year. 

It has everything a good festival should: food, music, dancing, friends, and family. 

Everyone in my family volunteers to some extent each year. My dad and brother help set up, my mom and dad bartend, and my siblings and I do random things through out the weekend. This year, we volunteered for "Pirate Paddy"- kids/families get a 'passport' and have to stop at stations around the grounds. Dan, Meagan, and I started our weekend in the kid's cultural area- talking to kids about Irish dancing and  putting tattoos on them. 

Paddy and Molly McFest are the mascots of Irish Fest. We like to get a picture with them every year :) 

Meagan's birthday was on the Saturday of Irish Fest and Molly's was the Tuesday before. We went to my parents for a good Irish breakfast (that included bangers and black pudding) for their birthdays. This breakfast also included cake- the perfect breakfast :) Because there are so many of us, we have to take multiple cars to the grounds. Ours was obviously the party car. 

Sister- brother bonding time

 Irish Fest has a whole section for Irish dogs! My mom brought Wee Seamus to the canine area to hang out for part of the day. He got lots of hugs, pets, and kisses from adoring fans :) 

My friend, Caitlin, got to experience Irish Fest.
I was volunteering for Pirate Paddy (in the blazing sun)- this time letting kids color ocean/lake pictures.
She met up with me later to see We Banjo Three- they were awesome.

On Sunday we volunteered (again for Pirate Paddy) in the canine area- we gave kids dog stickers and let them do scratchy-art on a a shamrock. 

There are SO many good treats at the Fest. I randomly got a cake pop- but some of my favorites are:
Shamrock twist (it's basically a twist of fried dough with cinnamon sugar on it), Irish stew in a bread bowl, baked potatoes, reuben rolls, bangers and mash, fish and chips, sour cream and chive fries, eggplant strips with parm, shamrock cookies, and roasted almonds. 

Mom, Molly, Rosie, Meagan, Me, Dan, Sean, Dad
Family time at Irish Fest! 

We're a little weird :) 

We saw dancers from almost all of the Milwaukee based Irish dance schools. We saw a little bit of a variety of bands (ranging from Scythian to Gaelic Storm to the Willis Clan to We Banjo Three). We shopped. We chatted with friends we haven't seen since last year. We ate. We walked around- a lot.

The best part of Irish Fest is the Scattering. It happens on Sunday night, right before Irish Fest is over. All of the performers from the weekend gather in the Aer Lingus stage and jam. They play music and sing songs. It's a big party for all of us and it's awesome. The sing "Wild Mountain Thyme" as the last song every year- the whole crowd joins in and it's such a cool moment. If you've never been, you should definitely go next year.