A festival of luck and leprechauns

My favorite kind of luck wafts up from the shepherd’s pie you eat in a park on a warm Friday night in September.

It sails out over a gathering crowd and touches each heart with its glow.

Notes carry that kind of luck and they come from the cheerfullest instruments — fiddles, flutes, bagpipes and horns.

You taste it in the pints, the mead and the cream; see it on the faces; hear it in the voices that laugh, cheer and sing along.

My favorite luck is the Irish kind and, sure and begorrah, we enjoyed plenty of it at Irish Fest this past weekend in Appleton.

Friday afternoon we caught the tail end of the Bow Tides, a three-fiddler band that set the perfect tone for the evening. We enjoyed the Nashville Celts, danced to Scythian, who played a nice tribute to Ukraine and then got us all on our feet, and belted out whatever phrases Skerryvore asked us to sing.

We are a very obedient audience, here in the Fox Cities, and we’re always happy to sing along.

We’re all very grateful to head leprechaun Matt Miller, owner of McGuinness Pub, and his tireless festival committee for all of the work they do every year to make this festival of joy happen.

I’m also grateful every time I attend a concert in Jones Park because that venue is a gift to us live music lovers and to all the talented bands who get to perform on that stage.

If you missed Irish Fest this year, you can still keep an eye on the McGuinness Pub Facebook page to catch any of those and other great acts throughout the year. You can also make plans to attend the festival next year.

And, may the luck of the Irish be with you today and every day.

Slainte!