Greenmead Historical Park
It was June 7th, 8th, and 9th, 2019, in Livonia, Michigan, and we returned to the Motor City Irish Festival. We were last there in 2016.
The Cultural Tent had a fitting poster made for me and for The Seanchai, the former included a photograph of me and the latter one of Eammon Kelly. I am quite flattered to be considered in the same breath as Eamon Kelly. He was, in my opinion, the greatest Irish storyteller of the 20th Century.
The festival asked me to tell an Irish legend. And so I did. I told one of the stories of Finn McCool, this one entitled The Legend of Knockmany. It’s one of my favorites from the Fenian Cycle.
Other times we be chillin’ to some Irish Music, including that of the Screaming Orphans.
I also told a story for the young ones, at the Wee Folks Tent. I chose my version of the Red Hand of Ulster, and had children act out the parts on stage. It was, at least for me, quite a hoot.
An Irish Tea Party
The Livonia Historical Commission organized an Irish Rose Tea in the Alexander Blue House at Greenmead. It was a quaint affair with a room full of fancy-dressed ladies, in the tradition of a long-gone era.
The hosts promised the ladies ”entertainment provided by traditional Irish artists”. Someone had the notion that such entertainment should include a storyteller, and someone else thought that storyteller should be me.
I had about a ½ hour warning that they wanted me at the Blue House. When I arrived, they sat me down in a rocky chair in the middle of the dining room, and told me I should tell a five minute story. And I did. It was a story which may or not have been appropriate for a room full of ladies, but I told it anyway!
I may or may not get invited to an Irish Tea Party again.
