Irish festival celebrating its 10th year

What you goin’ at (what are you doing?) this weekend? If you’re not jammers (busy), you might consider heading to the 10th annual Eugene Irish Cultural Festival today and Saturday.

Bring your bird (girlfriend) or your big ride (boyfriend), or maybe your ole wan (mother) or ole man (father).

It’s guaranteed to make you weak as a kitten (very tired) — in a gran’ (good) way.

And yes, you can learn about the Irish way of speaking at the festival, although it’ll probably be a tad more sophisticated than the introduction we just gave you.

“There are a lot of aspects of Irish culture that are very unique,” said Peggy Hinsman, coordinator for the festival that begins tonight with a concert at the University of Oregon’s Beall Concert Hall.

The Paperboys from Vancouver, B.C., are the headliner at tonight’s show. The group was formed in 1991 by Tom Landa, whose Canadian mother has Irish heritage. They plan to play traditional Irish music for the Ceili, an Irish social dance.

The group has toured all over Europe, from England to Germany, Norway to Austria. And yes, they’ve played in Ireland.

Band members will teach workshops at Sheldon High School on Saturday during the festival’s second day.

Local musicians David Helfand (celtic harp) and Justin Lader (violist) will open the show at Beall. Helfand and Lader perform an eclectic blend of original world music, according to the festival’s website, and their music ranges from Celtic to Middle Eastern to music inspired by various other cultures.

The duo also will teach a workshop at the Saturday event, which is subtitled “An Entire Day of an Engaging Immersion in Authentic Irish Culture.”

Proud of heritage

The festival includes Irish stories, the history and rules of hurling (the national sport of Ireland) as well as Irish dance and basket-weaving workshops — and even the chance to learn all about Irish bogs.

“I’ve always been very proud of my Irish heritage,” said Hinsman, a former Crow High School teacher who now works in the computing and information services department of the Eugene School District.

Hinsman, who said her family’s heritage is about 40 percent Irish on both her mother’s and father’s sides of the family, will be doing the bog presentation on Saturday.

You also can learn how to trace your ancestors back to Ireland, or learn about the culture, history and geography of the island nation. And, of course, there’s that hurling tournament on the turf field at the high school.

One thing, as always, you will not find at the festival is booze. That’s not only because the festival is on school property, but because that’s the way organizers have wanted it since Mike Meyer, a former music station director at KRVM-FM in Eugene, organized the first festival in 2004, Hinsman said.

Although she acknowledged that drinking “is definitely part of” Irish culture, the festival is “something that’s intended to be very fun” for families, Hinsman said.

Other performances on Saturday include those by the Murray Irish Dancers, the Sheldon High School choirs and the Eugene Recorder Ensemble.

The festival will conclude Saturday with a 5 p.m. performance by the Eugene Highlanders bagpipe band.

Mark Baker is The Register-Guard’s features editor. Reach him at 541-338-2374 or [email protected].