A Damned Fine Irish Fest In Dublin, Ohio

In the autumn of 1987 Murphy and O'Brien met at Kelsey's Bar in downtown Dublin, Ohio to share a brew or two. It was a beautiful fall day and the two laughed and joked about their Irish heritage. Around two am the following morning O'Brien said, "Lesh do dis nex yearrrrr". And they did except it became the Dublin Irish Festival which has been on ongoing event since.*

The festival brings in over 100,000 people from all over Ohio and beyond.. It has a true, authentic feel of Ireland.
The very first of Murphy and O'Brien's brain storm took place the following August on a tennis court with an Irish band playing songs from the Mother Country and year by year it greatly expanded until here we are today.

In 2015 the different venues now cover over 28 acres filled with crafts, Irish dancing, bagpipers food stands and, best of all, imported Irish singing groups from the real country. Everything Irish is here except for a famine Two of the very best acts were Socks in the Frying Pan and We Banjos 3. The latter is an outstanding group with the energy of dachshund who has taken 25 Viagra in one hour. You might want to YouTube these folks especially the We Banjos guys.

The queen and I attended an open air Mass filled with as many people as were in attendance for the famous loaves and fishes speech(I think). I like to consider myself as an observer of people and places. For some unknown reason women in halter tops seem to catch my attention. Since I've been to this event before why should I repeat myself with what we saw during past visits? If you attend a carnival you see a tilt-awhirl. When you go to the zoo leopards are going to be on the grounds. So, I try to be attentive to the out of the ordinary. It's more fun that way.

Entrance to the festival is a good deal. General admission is $12. Seniors get in for $10. Those who fork over that kind of cash are either stupid and/or lazy. We stopped in at Kroger's and purchased four canned goods of food. That's what the sponsors, the Catholic Churches, ask for us to get onto the grounds. I take this responsibility seriously. Non-God fearing people might sprint down the vegetable aisle, snag a couple of cans of okra or squash and run out. Not me, I go for baby peas and green beans, the good stuff. If I'm going to see quality entertainment I feel it's necessary to go the extra mile.

Oh, I forgot to mention, there were over ten thousand beer tents on the grounds. You might ask whatever happened to Murphy and O'Brien. They have their statues inside with inscriptions reading:

Murphy and O'Brien two men indeed
Started this show in the hours of wee
hoist a pint or two in their memory
died at the stall, too old to pee.**

*I made this part up. But it was fun doing it.
** This, too, is sort of fictional but what the hell.