For more information www.tucsoncelticfestival.org. I’m looking forward to hearing those Scottish bagpipes.

leprechaun in his pot of gold

Well, back home in Hawaii, we kids grew up looking for menehune, the tiny native folk who also do mysterious things, like build fish ponds and other stone structures in the middle of the night.

There are also a lot of lava caves around for them to live in. I remember as a child on long car trips, looking eagerly for a glimpse of one of those little menehune coming out of the numerous lava tubes/caves along the side of the road of the Big Island. We had lots of rainbows on Hawaii Island, but no gold deposits anywhere (being as it’s volcanic).

One of my high school friends told me that once as a young boy on a cub scout hike, his troop came across very small footprints in the mud of our hilly, rural area of the Big Island. He says they excitedly followed the footprints for a while, which were spaced only a few inches apart. They looked like tiny baby foot impressions in the mud, along a dirt road next to a sugar cane field. Then the Cub Scout Master became scared (probably as he realized these may have been spirits), and they left the area immediately. Who knows? He told me he thought they were menehune footprints.

By the way, one of my friends in town is Hawaiian singer Ernie Menehune (originally from Kauai), who still sings at luaus and sometimes at the Kon Tiki, 4625 E. Broadway.

Anyway, celebrate St. Patrick’s Day today by wearing green (I am) and hoping to find that Pot of Gold at the end of the rainbow. I know I’m still looking for it.

May the luck of the Irish be with you today.

Erin go braugh!

May the luck of the Irish be with you!

“Irish import, musician, and singer Jamie O’Brien will be bringing you some beautiful, haunting Irish and Celtic songs, both old and new, influenced by his very own individual approach to the traditional, complete with a wee touch of the contemporary.” Saturday, March 13, 2010, between 3:00 P.M. – 4:00 P.M, at Himmel Park branch library, 1035 N. Treat Ave., in the large meeting room.

Then the next day Sunday, March 14 “run with the Irish” downtown for the annual St. Patrick’s Day festival and parade. The fest is all day at Armory Park (220 S. 5th Avenue), 10 to 5 p.m. with the parade starting at 11 a.m.

Here are two good Tucson Irish American/St. Patrick’s Day websites:

http://www.tucsonstpatricksday.com/ for parade & festival info, along their theme of “Running with the Irish.”

http://tucsonirishcommunity.com/Events/st-patricks-day-parade-and-festival (lots of information about the happenings of the Irish Community in Tucson).

For updates contact John Flanagan at info@FlanagansCelticCorner.com, by phone at 520- 623-9922, or meet him in person at the only Celtic/Irish/Scottish/Welsh shop in town–
FLANAGAN’s Celtic Corner, 222 E Congress St, in downtown Tucson, across from the Ronstadt Transit Center. Hours are Wed – Fri: 11AM – 3 PM, Sat – Sun: 9 AM – 6 PM.

My husband and I honeymooned in Ireland, and I am good friends with several Irish Americans who always celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. And believe it or not, I bake Irish soda bread (recipe courtesy of my friend, the late Alice Creagh Brown, of Ridgefield, Connecticut).

Happy St. Patrick’s Day a wee bit early. And don’t forget to wear green (or you’ll get pinched)!