By Jake Pellegrino
staff writer
The sights and sounds of the Irish culture filled the air of the Mack Physical Education Center on Sunday, Mar 6.
Irish soda bread, beer, corned beef and cabbage and of course, plenty of green were all part of the University’s annual Irish Experience Festival, now in its 18th year.
Tony Jackson, who has served as the Master of Ceremonies for the event since its inception, stated that his favorite aspect of the festival is “seeing the same people year after year and how it forms a nice community of Irish Long Islanders.”
Jackson also spoke about the evolution of the festival. It started out in the Mack Exhibition Center as a simple way to commemorate St. Patrick in the beginning of March every year, but then needed to move to a larger location to accommodate more people.
As MC, his job entails announcing and introducing the musical acts and making sure they keep on schedule and stay organized. Prior to joining the Irish Festival staff, he was a host of “Irish Country,” which was WRHU’s longest running show.
Many vendors came to the campus to sell traditional Irish clothing, silverware and souvenirs. Rachel Gwyn, of Rachel’s Celtic Treasures, could be found selling Irish soda bread mix, Irish four-leaf clover ties and Irish candles.
She said that while she has experience with other Irish festivals in her home state of New Jersey, this is her first time at Hofstra’s and she especially appreciated the fact that the event is indoors and that they have a booth to trace your Irish family genealogy. At said booth, the Irish Family History Forum were setting up maps, where visitors could track their family history by seeing in which region of Ireland their last name is dominant.
Flyers were available to those interested in attending the organization’s monthly meetings, which are held at the Bethpage Public Library, currently housing 400 members.
The organization frequently hosts guest speakers and uses the meetings to research Irish records with the ultimate goal being to afford people the opportunity to track their family history and create a family tree. They also have a social aspect, since all members have a common interest in genealogy.
Several student groups were also in attendance, such as WRHU who were there to promote their two Irish-themed programs: “Long Ireland” and “That’s How I Spell Ireland.”
A very enthusiastic WRHU member, Bradley Clarke said that although he is not Irish himself, he would love to be because he loves the culture and music. The pre-law fraternity Phi Alpha Delta was also there selling crafts for children in an effort to raise money for “The Innocence Project,” an organization that is committed to exonerating wrongly incarcerated individuals.
The Hofstra community looks forward to other festivals later in the year, such as the Dutch Fesival, held on May 7, and the Italian Festival, typically held in early September, to celebrate all the many cultures that are as diverse as the University itself.