St. Patrick's Day Austin

ST. PATRICK'S DAY AUSTIN - BENEFITING THE CELTIC CULTURAL CENTER OF TEXAS
For 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. This year's Paddy's Day party will be bigger than ever. Not only will we have the inside stage at Cover 3, but this year we will be adding an additional St. Patrick's Day stage outside in the parking lot under a covered tent for two stages of great craic!
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 "Irish 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 The David Munnelly Band this year. Irish American News just crowned them Irish Band of the Decade!
Click on the performer page to find the list of all our amazing performers, including your local favorites like Jeff Moore and the Silver Thistle Pipes and Drums.

THE LANGUAGE OF ST. PATRICK'S DAY AUSTIN
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 FILMS ON HAND CRAFTS
This year we are proud to be hosting a special Saint Patrick's Day showing of a series of documentary films recorded in the 1970's in Ireland featuring hand crafts from harp making to hurling sticks! The award winning series originally aired on RTE television in Ireland. Each film is approximately 30 mintues long and we will be showing 7 of the 32 films in the series at the Austin St. Patrick's Day Festival. Many of these films show crafts and traditions that are quickly being lost and are rare gems that show the unfailing committment the Irish people have toward craftsmenship. We were immensely honored to be contacted by the creators of these films and gladly accepted their request to show them to you on this day of Irish Pride! Visit the schedule page above for the times each film will air.

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: The Cass Academy of Irish 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.

FOOD AND DRINK AT ST. PATRICK'S DAY AUSTIN
Cover-3 is 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. There are free gyroscope rides, free video games for the kids like dance revolution and guitar hero. Find out more about the lineup and programs at this year's St. Paddy's Day Festival in Austin by visiting our schedule page.