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When Irish eyes are smiling, you can hit a homerun

Sevety-five thousand fans showed up to witness Cal Ripken, Jr.'s Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. Reminder Publications photo by Courtney Llewellyn
By Courtney Llewellyn

Reminder Assistant Editor



At the end of July, Central New York can look a little bit like Ireland. Wide open spaces, cattle and sheep pastures and greenery everywhere might be enough to convince some, even if the temperatures soaring into the 90s and the sweltering humidity aren't enough for others.

"Why would New York be compared to Ireland?" you may wonder. Because from July 27 - 29 the Herkimer County Fairgrounds in Frankfort, N.Y., was home to the Great American Irish Festival, now in its fourth year.

The festival has been growing in leaps and bounds since its inception in 2004. An estimated 30,000 visitors danced, sang and drank this year, celebrating their heritage and just having a good time.

The largest part of the festival is its musical acts. Although there are only three stages (the local, traditional and contemporary stages), dozens of performers and bands play sets of at least an hour for hundreds of fans gathered beneath the festival tents.

The music styles vary as widely as the age ranges in the audience. Newborn babes to octogenarians mostly dressed in shades of green can enjoy a soft acoustic guitar and a singer lilting soft traditional Irish tunes to a seated audience, or maybe a banjo, usually a fiddle, bagpipe or accordion, and sometimes a screeching guitar solo rocking a crowd on its feet.

Some of the standout acts this year fell into both categories. Seamus Kennedy stood onstage with only his guitar, painted like the Irish flag, playing well-known Irish folk songs and original humorous diddies that left his audience laughing for the rest of the day. "What's the difference between an Irish funeral and an Irish wedding?" he joked. "One less drunk."

A problem with having multiple stages is deciding who you want to see. Kiersten Wheeler, who traveled from Chicago for the festival, was torn Friday night between the New York-based Prodigals and the Kansas City-based Elders. She wound up running from the Prodigals gig as soon as it ended to the Elders on the other stage.

The Prodigals, headed by Gregory Grene of Cavan, Ireland, play a unique blend of traditional Irish music and funk. Bassist Ed Kollar could put some of the funk players of the 1970s to shame.

The Elders, however, play a raucous blend of Irish folk and rock n' roll. Lead singer Ian Byrne never lets his energy lag and makes sure that the audience doesn't slow down either. During the group's show on the first night of the festival, he pulled six-year-old J.J. Thompson of Kenosha, Wisc., onstage with him to play tambourine for the band's final song of the evening. Thompson's family wasn't in town for just the Irish festival...but we'll come back to that.

New England favorites Enter the Haggis have been playing at the festival for the past three years, and every time they take the stage, they make a few more fans. Nathan Purcell, of nearby Richfield Springs, N.Y., tries to see the band every opportunity he gets.

Although the music is a huge part of the Great American Irish Festival, there is a lot more to do than rock out. A "Wee Folks" area that includes a bounce house is available for the younger crowd, as is a Teen Zone sponsored by the local CW affiliate.

Vendors provide everything from T-shirts and wool sweaters to photographs to jewelry to the "InFAMOUS Welsh Cookies" inside the fairgrounds' large barn. Food stands provide the hungry festival-goer with everything from hamburgers and hot dogs to traditional Irish food as well as falafels. And, of course, there's plenty of Guinness, Smithwick's, and Harp to go around.

But wait, there's more. Performances by local Irish dance schools take place everyday, as do lessons and workshops. Demonstrations of Irish cooking (soda bread and boxty, or potato pancakes) and Irish language workshops are open to all. Curling demonstrations and the different breeds of Irish dogs are great for those of any age.

Seisiuns, or gatherings of musicians, take place both day and night for anyone who has a guitar, pipe, fiddle or bodhr n (flat drum) and wants to play.

New this year was a Sunday morning Gaelic Mass, and all those who attended got to enter the festival that day for free.

There's so much to do at the Irish festival that you may miss the other large event happening in the area.

About forty minutes southeast of Frankfort lies the small village of Cooperstown, N.Y., the Mecca of baseball. The Great American Irish Festival always coincides with the Baseball Hall of Fame's annual Induction Weekend, as they're both held during the last weekend in July.

Remember young J.J. Thompson from the festival? His family's ultimate destination was this year's induction ceremony. The 30,000 people at the Irish festival seems like nothing compared to the 75,000 who visited the village of Cooperstown (population 2,000).

Why so many? Orioles great Cal Ripken, Jr. and Padres legend Tony Gwynn were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame this year, and to honor them, a record 53 Hall of Famers came, too.

Although there are many events going on in Cooperstown during Induction Weekend, there are three things that every visitor must do: visit the Hall of Fame, go to the induction ceremony and order a gourmet sandwich from Danny's Market on Main Street. (My personal favorite is the Chicken Dilemma). While in town, I ate Danny's twice; once for lunch at the induction ceremony, and again for dinner on my way home.

If you have big baseball fans in your family but you're not so into it, there's also the Farmer's Museum, a recreation of a working 19th century farm village and the Fenimore Cooper House, a folk art museum and the home of author James Fenimore Cooper a mere mile from the Hall of Fame.

Although these destinations are a three-hour ride from Springfield, both are very entertaining for kids and adults of all ages. If you plan on going to both, though, you may need to add a little gas to the tank of your car (I did).

The Herkimer County Fairgrounds can be reached from exit 30 of the New York State Thruway, as can Cooperstown. The Hall of Fame is also reachable by taking Interstate 88 west from exit 25A down to Oneonta, or by taking Route 20 west.

Admission to the Irish festival is $10 a day on Friday and Sunday, $12 on Saturday. Tickets bought in advance have a discount. Visit www.gaif.us for more information.

The Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony is free of charge, but entrance to the museum is $14.50 for adults, $5 for children 7 - 12, and $9.50 for seniors. For more information, log on to www.baseballhalloffame.org.

Danny's sandwiches average at $7 each.