It Was a Great Irish Fair in Brooklyn

Our ears are still ringing with the sound of Irish reels, folk songs and Irish ballads after spending Sunday at the 31st Annual Great Irish Fair of New York, held in Coney Island at MCU Park.

Among the entertainment was the rousing bagpipe and drum performance of the Richmond County Pipes and Drums Band.

It was a beautiful weekend to listen to music, eat Irish food and drink Irish beer.

Andy Cooney, accompanied by the Band of Rogues, sang traditional and sentimental favorites.

Cooney meeting and greeting the audience.

Dancers from the O'Malley Academy Irish Dancers really knew their stuff.

Some of these child dancers move on to professional careers. (One stepdancer, Linda Murphy, has been chosen to dance with a Riverdance company.)

Other performers included Derek Warfield and The Young Wolfe Tones, who got everyone all fired up about the days of rebellion in Ireland. The full performer list is here.

There was fresh-baked Irish soda bread.

Obviously there was plenty of beer for all.

And vendors galore. We bought waaay too much green stuff.

We recommend the Irish Fair even if you're not officially Irish. (You will be by the time you're through.) It's a great end-of-summer weekend of fun, and all of the money raised goes to fund Catholic schools.

Photos by MK Metz

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