I attended the 2010 North Texas Irish Festival with my girlfriend Bev, held in Dallas at Fair Park last Friday to sample Irish foods, experience Celtic culture, and make fun of large burly men wearing kilts. While attending, we got our fair share of food, folks, and fun, chowing down on Irish Stew, chatting with vendors, and letting Rocco (Bev’s French Bulldog) commune with other dogs (including two a 3 1/2 foot tall Irish Wolfhounds). I went for the grub, but left with some food for thought and a dose of culture I won’t soon forget.  It was a last minute decision to attend the 2010 Dallas Irish Festival on Friday instead of Sunday, like we had originally planned. After researching the North Texas Irish Festival website, we found that from 5-7pm on Friday there was no charge for admittance into the festival. We decided free was better than the $35 – $125 cost for Savor Dallas. We spent $10 to park, but we spent the rest of our festival budget on food and drinks.

Featured Food & Drink from North Texas Irish Festival

Bev and I hadn’t eaten all day, so we were highly anticipating  some Gaelic delicacies. After perusing the first few stands, then walking the extent of the food vendors, I hit the jackpot. I saw a big sign saying, “Irish Stew.”

From a distance, all I could see  were workers serving from converted cooler kegorators of Irish and American beer. At that point, I thought the sign was a metaphor calling beer, “Irish Stew.”  Fortunately, this was not the case and they did have beef and vegetable stew in bread bowls.  Unfortunately, I did not get a photo of the Irish stew. Throughout the night I also sampled many other foods: an Italian sausage sandwich, four ground beef tacos, and a roasted corn cob. Bev had a potato twister, and a pulled pork sandwich.  We also shared some German roasted nuts.

The People of the North Texas Irish Festival
We saw green spiky Mohawks, large red and green beards, black fishnet hose,  and kilts, lots of leather and plaid kilts.  Irish festivals seem to draw the same sort of oddball bohemian crowds as Renaissance fairs. These are definitely not the type of people you would see on a given night in Uptown, which is cool. It was fun to see who came out of the woodwork. I have been to Greek, German, and crawfish festivals in the North Texas area, as well as throughout the state, but this festival unlike others remind me more of a punk concert where not only was the musical talent entertaining, but the people are fun and dressed for the scene.

Dallas Irish Festival’s Musical Entertainment
Speaking of punk rock, soon after getting some food, we watched an Irish Punk/Rock band playing lots of old Irish drinking songs only with distorted guitars, a violin, and bass guitar instead of pianos and mandolins. The last time I had seen anything of the sort was when I attended the 2003 or 2004 Vans Warped Tour where I saw an Irish parody punk band named Flogging Molly. I’ve heard the Dropkick Murphy’s have a similar style as well. I used to see a lot of bands when I worked part time at Superpages.com Center, formally Smirnoff Music Center during the two summers before graduating from college. I have seen several more low key Irish/Celtic bands playing at Trinity Hall, an Irish bar located at Mockingbird Station in Dallas.

Looks like I will be missing Dallas’ Annual St. Patty’s Day Greenville Avenue Parade event. I’ve only missed one in the past four years. Two of those years I watched The Toadies perform. Supposedly, it was going to be their last concert the first time, and then again the next year. I saw them play in May 2009 at the Richardson Wildflower Festival.  This year, Friday actually, I’m headed to South By Southwest Interactive conference. I had the opportunity to go two years ago, but declined. I digress. Back to the 2010 Dallas North Texas Irish Festival review.  Another interesting part of the night was speaking with and seeing what local vendors had to offer.

North Texas Irish Fest Vendors

We encountered several vendors selling knickknacks from wooden swords to esoteric pagan symbols emblazoned on bronze and silver medallions. These necklaces were made on site using some sort of a weight on a pulley system which  dropped like a guillotine and by sheer gravity imprinted your choice of pagan god, secret society symbol, or Knights of Malta cross. He claimed they were 100% silver and bronze and he was selling them for $45.  At $17.30 a ounce, he was probably selling the medallions for $27 over the price of its worth. Recently I bought twenty Liberty Half dollars for $200 at $9 a piece, and $20 shipping. Besides their numismatic value, they are only worth about seven dollars a piece melted down. My goal is a buy one Liberty tenth of an ounce gold piece every month  for the next year. I’m a bit of a patriot and feel our monetary system based on green IOUs will fail sometime in the future, but that’s another rant. Either way, I plan on stocking up gold and silver. These medallions we’re a little overpriced. I’ll stick with pieces created by many of the U. S. Mints.

The Petting Zoo at the North Texas Irish Festival

I recently watched an episode of a How I met Your Mother and they were discussing how often women and men have a backup plan when it comes to relationships and they like to keep someone hanging on they he/she knows likes them for a rainy day, even when the feelings are recpirical. They keep going on dates, accepting gifts and attention, but never plan on dating the person exclusively. When he/she is asked to get serious, they add a statement which keeps the other having hope. ” I can’t be with you…right now.”  The last part keeps the other hanging on for the future, so they keep pursuing taking on dates, and giving gifts. Jason Segel’s character made Alyson Hannigan’s character say, “I can’t be with you” to a tea cup pig pretending it was a male cafeteria worker who she had said “I can’t be with you …right now.” She couldn’t do it because the pig was too cute. I was just thinking that I wanted to see one of those Tea Cup Pigs.  At the 2010 Irish Festival petting zoo I hung out with some piglets, some baby goats, a huge rabbit, duck, and some sheep. These may not have been tea cup pigs, but they were very young and small. I tried to hold on, but they squealed and ran away, then when I sat down, they curled up by me for warmth.

Encounters of the Wolfhound Kind at the Dallas Irish Festival

There was also an inside exhibit and boy was I glad, because it started getting cold. Inside there were vendors, clubs, and more than one pseudo-gemologist.  Each had reams of books of last names in which you could look up the origin of your surname. I found out Lemons, my father’s last name, and Vickery, my mother’s maiden name were both English. The highlight of our trip inside was meeting some Irish Wolfhounds. Irish Wolfhounds are the tallest dog breed on average according to Wikipedia. Also, according to Wikipedia they are easygoing animals, that are usually quiet by nature. They have a very peaceful personality and are good with children.

Short History of Irish Wolfhounds

The breed is very old; there are suggestions it may have been brought to Ireland around 3500 BC by early settlers, further genetic testing may help clarify a point of origin. These dogs are mentioned, as cú (variously translated as hound, Irish hound, war dog, wolf dog, etc.) in Irish laws, which predate Christianity, and in Irish literature which dates from the 5th century or, in the case of the Sagas, from the old Irish period – AD600-900. The word “Cu” often became an added respected prefix on the names of warriors as well as kings denoting that they were worthy of the respect and loyalty of a Cu. Ancient wood cuts and writings have placed them in existence as a breed by 273 BC.

We finally made our way home that night. We were going to hang out in Exposition Park after the fair, but decided to head on home.

Read more about the history of North Texas Irish Festival in Dallas.

Official North Texas Irish Festival Website
North Texas Irish Festival Info on About.com
List of Texas Celtic Festivals
More on Irish Wolfhounds