St. Patrick's Day Austin

ST. PATRICK'S DAY AUSTIN - BENEFITING THE CELTIC CULTURAL CENTER OF TEXAS
For over ten years the Celtic Cultural Center of Texas has been organizing the best Austin St. Paddy's Day celebration in central Texas, along with the critically acclaim Celtic Christmas at the Cathdral and many other Irish and Celtic events. A family friendly St. Patrick's Day where families can come out and enjoy the culture of Ireland including music, dance and language. Visit the Celtic Cultural Center's webpage at www.celticcenter.org to learn more about the non-profit organization and sign up on their mailing list so you can become a "Celtic Insider."

ST. PATRICK'S DAY AUSTIN MUSIC
Traditional Irish music is one of the greatest sources of pride for the Irish people. No one could be sincere about offering a St. Patrick's Day celebration without it. The CCC is extremely honored to be hosting Teada with Brian Cunningham of Atlantic Steps and Seamus Begley. Téada, now firmly established as one of Irish music's leading exponents on the international world music stage, continues to be driven by a fascination with the timeless, expressive force of traditional tunes inherited from previous generations of musicians. Click on the performer page to find the list of all our amazing performers, including your local favorites like Jeff Moore, The Tea Merchants and the Silver Thistle Pipes and Drums.

THE LANGUAGE OF ST. PATRICK'S DAY AUSTIN (Cover 3 location only)
The CCC wants to help continue the very important effort to preserve and spread the influence of the Gaelic language. It is the root language to Ireland's greatest songs, stories and history.
(And it's really cool to impress your friends with your linguistic genuis!)
In the banquet room of Cover 3, The Gaelic League of Austin will host a children's storytelling in Irish as well as teach Irish language classes for patrons of all ages that would like to learn some beginning Irish phrases. They will also be leading one of our favorite language workshop, "Irish Blessings and Curses."
If you find it more than a little intriguing (and we think you will), the Gaelic League will be manning a booth where you can sign up for official classes, purchase Gaelic language books and find out how you can support this Austin Irish institution. Visit the schedule page to view the workshops scheduled times. They are free to festival ticket holders and no advance registration is required. Just show up and get ready to put your tongue through it's paces!

THE ST. PATRICK'S DAY AUSTIN DANCE
The are many types of Irish dance. There is the disciplined art of step dancing (which you've no doubt watched with awe during a showing of Riverdance). There is also the set dancing performed in casual "ceili" or "party" settings and then there is the unstructured, unstoppable toe and hand clapping that starts rumbling throughout the crowd usually during a fine reel or spirited jig played by a master tunesmith. (we supply the tunesmiths, you bring the toes). And if you are so emotionally shutdown that cannot be moved no matter the height of the tune or the bottom of the glass, then we will
still give you something you can spectical over: Inishfree Austin Dance. This wonderous troop will show you how its done, Irish style. It's a pretty infectious dance, the entire Appalacian mountain range got the Flatley fever as immigrants moved from the East coast toward the lonesome valleys of new Amerikay. It spawn a new, groovy set of steps known as "clogging." So, we the Clickety Cloggers are coming to the St. Paddy's Day Fest to show us how it's done when the Irish come down from the mountains. This year, as a special treat, we have Brian Cunningham from the group Atlantic Steps demonstrating the Sean Nos (old style) Irish dance!

FOOD AND DRINK AT ST. PATRICK'S DAY AUSTIN
We are preparing a special St. Paddy's Day menu including Fish n Chips, Shepherd's Pie, Corned Beef and Cabbage (yes, we know it's not authentically Irish, but it's authentically Irish Amercian, besides it's bad luck if you skip it). Plus, all your favorite Irish beers will be on tap including Guinness, Harp and Smithwicks (pronounced Smiddicks for the uninitiated). Most of these beers come a dark, lovely brown, so don't make us look bad in front of all the real Irish in the house by ordering a green one.

Oh gosh! We are running out of web space and we still have more to tell you about this awesome day!
Although, we think we had you convinced at FREE PARKING.