2012 Atlanta St. Patrick’s Day Parade

The 130th Atlanta St. Patrick’s Parade is held annually in downtown Atlanta to celebrate Irish culture in Atlanta. The 2012 parade marks the 154th anniversary of the first Hibernian Benevolent Society of Atlanta’s St. Patrick’s Day Celebration. The parade is open to the public and welcomes all spectators and participants.

Saturday, March 17, 2012, Noon-1:30 p.m.

A festival will be held at 200 Peachtree (adjacent to the Westin Peachtree Plaza) following the parade.

The parade will start at the intersection of Ralph McGill Boulevard and Peachtree Street in downtown Atlanta. It will continue south on Peachtree Street toward Woodruff Park, and will conclude at Five Points. In addition, radio disc jockeys from 97.1 The River, B98.5 and WALR Kiss 104.1 FM will be stationed along the route to announce the parade.

The parade is produced by the Atlanta St. Patrick’s Day Foundation, a group of representatives from Atlanta’s Irish heritage organizations including the Hibernian Benevolent Society of Atlanta, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, Clan Na nGael, Firefighters Emerald Society of Metro Atlanta, the Metro Atlanta Police Emerald Society and the Irish Chamber. The foundation is chaired by Dave Fitzgerald.

The week’s festivities will begin with the Junior League of Atlanta’s Shamrock ‘N Roll Road Race at 9 a.m. on Sunday, March 11 at Atlantic Station’s Pinnacle Lot off of 20th Street.

A St. Patrick’s Mass at Cathedral of Christ the King (2699 Peachtree Road NE, Atlanta, GA 30305) will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, March 15 and a Memorial Mass and wreath laying in honor of Father Thomas O’Reilly will be held at 11 a.m. on Friday, March 16 at the Catholic Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (48 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive SW, Atlanta, GA 30303).

Finally, Irish musician Liam O’Connor will be hosting a concert at the Buckhead Theatre (3110 Roswell Road NE, Atlanta, GA 30305) on the evening of March 17.

The Atlanta St. Patrick's Day Parade received a boost when more than 120 golfers gathered at Peachtree Golf Club on Oct. 31 for the Inaugural Atlanta St. Patrick's Day Parade Foundation Golf Tournament. The sold out event raised $160,000 to support The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of Georgia and the 2012 edition of the parade. The winning team included Mark Preisinger, Neil Johnson, Michael Keough and Tom Daly.

For more information or to register to participate in the parade, please visit http://stpatsparadeatlanta.com or contact Ed Moran at edmoran@mindspring.com.

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Irish Set Dancing

Kids Having FunUpcoming Set Dance Sessions


Come dance with us!  Regular dance sessions are held the 1st and 3rd Sundays (except July), please visit the IMT website (Calendar of Events) to confirm a particular date.  We'll teach or review a dance or two, then dance them - beginners are welcome, dance partner not required. Come dance with us!
 
The lively music of Ireland was made for dancing, and moving to the music simply enhances the enjoyment of it. Set dancing is a traditional social dance form in practice for over 150 years in rural communities in Ireland.  It is very much alive and well today - in Ireland, across the United States and around the globe.
 
Session cost? A small free-will donation to the céilí fund is always welcome. 

For more information, contact Sally.MacHenry@mindspring.com, or visit the following websites:
Irish Music Traditions (Atlanta) http://www.irishmusictraditions.org/
The Set Dancing News http://www.setdancingnews.net/

Regular Music, Radio & Dance

Every Sunday 12-2pm: Seamróg Performing at Durty Kelly's Irish Pub Alpharetta.

Atlanta's newest traditional Irish teen band with fiddles, flutes, song and dance-- flying you home again to Clare and Galway with music from the heart and hearth.  Lift a foot and a pint as Seamróg (Irish Gaelic for Shamrock) entertains your entire family.

Liam Butler-Lawrence (Piano/ Flute/ Whistle); Noah Coffin (Fiddle); Anna Johnson (Song/ Dance/ Bodhran); Sean O'Callaghan (Fiddle/ Concertina); Claire Shirey (Fiddle/ Concertina/ Dance)

Thistle & Shamrock
Fiona Ritchie
Fridays, 9-10PM: Join award-winning host Fiona Ritchie to explore the evolving Celtic musical traditions of Europe and North America. As Thistle surveys traditional Celtic music it also leads you to explore more distant landscapes and genres, investigating Celtic influences in World and contemporary music. Back on Atlanta's WABE NPR 90.1FM

WRFG's Celtic Show
Sundays: WRFG's Celtic Show (Sundays from 5 to 7 pm), and the rest of the station's wonderful programming, is now broadcasting to the entire metro Atlanta area (and more) at 100,000 watts from our new tower/ transmitter. No more black out areas... no more flakey reception just a few miles NE of station. Try it for yourself: 89.3 FM!
John C. Falstaff, @wrfgcelticshow (Twitter)
1866 Marlbrook Dr., Atlanta, GA 30307, USA Host of The Celtic Show on WRFG Atlanta 89.3FM
Blog: http://wrfgcelticshow.wordpress.com
Podcasts: http://www.thecelticshow.org/wrfgpodcasts.html

Sessions

 "...a gathering of Irish traditional musicians for the purpose of celebrating their common interest in the music by playing it together in a relaxed, informal setting, while in the process generally beefing up the mystical cultural mantra that hums along uninterruptedly beneath all manifestations of Irishness worldwide."  --Barry Foy

Atlanta Area

A Beginning/ Intermediate Session is held at The Harp Irish Pub, 1st and 3rd Sundays from 5-7PM; family friendly. Bring your instrument and your tunes! This new session is not a teaching session and not associated with any formal organization. Just a venue for working your tunes up to speed and a place to swap new tunes and musical ideas. An advanced session is conducted every Monday at 8:30PM at Fado. For more info, contact Gary White. The Harp also provides Live Music every Friday & Saturday, 9PM, although many sessions are not Celtic.

the Olde Blind Dog features a Session on Wednesday nights, beginning about 8:00PM, with flutes, fiddles, pipes, guitar or banjo and bodhran on Crabapple Road in Milton, GA

Patrons at the Grange Pub in downtown Decatur got a pleasant surprise on Tuesday, May 12th, when they looked up from sipping their beers to hear the great sounds of live Irish tunes. The music was being provided by a new Irish music session to be held at the Grange every Tuesday night, led by noted local fiddler and singer Moira Nelligan. Moira has assembled a group of ten or so top musicians to play at this session for advanced players. With such talent on display, you know that the music will be of the best quality: sprightly, lively, energetic and enjoyable. The Grange Pub has a great atmosphere, good food, and a large selection of unusual beers, plus a welcoming Irish ownership. Try to make it by and give a listen.

The Irish Bred Pub, Douglasville, Wednesday Nights 6:30PM – 8:30PM Starting Apr. 15, led by Ted Simon, fiddler for Sgian Dubh. Players at all levels are welcome but the sessions are geared toward beginning and intermediate musicians. The Irish Bred Pub offers a family friendly atmosphere, food and drinks, and there is no smoking in the music area. Fiddles, mandolins, whistles, flutes, tenor banjos, guitars, concertinas, and bodhrans welcome! We play traditional and modern Celtic and Celtic-influenced tunes at a reasonable tempo.

Celtic Session at Manuel's Tavern, Second Sunday each month. The session normally start around 3:30 to 4PM.

Athens Area

Athens Session at The Globe (corner, North Lumpkin and Clayton Streets), a genuine Athens landmark, is going strong. The Session is held at 3:00 PM (1500) on Sunday afternoons, and is attended by a cast of accomplished musicians of all types: strings, fiddles, pipes and whistles, vocals and percussion.

Huntsville Area

SlipJig Celtic band members and friends host a weekly session on Thursday nights at Finnegan's Pub on South Parkway in Huntsville, 7:30-10:30. Tunes and songs. Always a fine time! Skilled players, interested on-lookers, and innocent by-standers are welcome! For additional information: Phil@slipjigband.com.

Birmingham Area

Regular Irish music session is offered on the 2nd and 4th Monday of each month from 7 - 10pm at CoolBeans in Homewood right next to New York Pizza and Broadway BBQ. CoolBeans Coffee House - is a non-smoking, family friendly environment. Musicians and fans welcome. For more details contact, Marty Bostick.

Mobile Area

Irish Music Session hosted by members of Mithril in the Fairhope area on Sundays, 6 to 8pm at Café Amore, 103B N. Bancroft Street, Fairhope. For more information: 251-928-0987 or 251-928-2719 or flyingfrog@aol.com.

Auburn Area

Irish musicians and dancers meet for session in the Auburn area on the second Tuesday of each month. Welcoming to friends, fans of the culture and Irish dancers, this session apparently attracts folks from hours away - that's got to be good! This groups has met in the past at the Auburn Alehouse and the Blue Bagel. The current location is pending. For details and directions contact: miller.scott2@charter.net