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SUMMER 2010
NEWSLETTER
Just a
reminder---The 7th Annual Irish Festival will take place March 5th
& 6th, 2011 at the Bavarian Gardens of the GASC. Please mark
your calendar for that weekend. We will NEED every member of the club to
volunteer for that weekend. Since we did meet our goal of 8,000 attendees to
our 2010 fest, we are setting our projected goal even higher. For our 7th Annual Irish Fest, we
expect 10,000 people to attend.
We plan on having
the trip to Ireland Raffle again. Each family will be contacted very soon by
one of our members about purchasing or selling raffle tickets for the Trip to
Ireland. The sooner we begin the more
successful we can be! The proceeds from the Trip to Ireland Raffle held at our 6th
Annual Irish Fest paid for all our entertainment at the event. The success of the raffle is dependent upon
our members. Success can only occur when members are involved in selling
tickets. We have over 130 families in our club.
If every family could buy or sell just 10 tickets, we would take in $6500
minus the cost of the trip. For all the
“snowbirds” it should be easy to sell raffle tickets because most likely no one
in your area will be offering a chance to win a trip to Ireland sponsored by
the Cape Coral Irish American Club. Please help the club by taking raffle
tickets to sell. If you have any questions please call Bud at 239-542-5622.
Now for the very good
news! Bud Martin has procured our
headliners for our 7th Annual Irish Fest. “The Screaming Orphans” are a very popular
group from Ireland—Joan, Angela, Grainne and Marie Therese Diver. They are a
pop-rock band and are four fun, high-spirited, musically–obsessed sisters.
Their sound has been compared to the Bangles and the Cranberries and other musical
influences range from the Beatles, R.E.M., Indigo Girls, to traditional Irish
music. Over the years we have heard our
festival need entertainers who will appeal to the young attendees. “The
Screaming Orphans” are very popular in the USA and do have a large fan
base. They have appeared many times in
SWFL and entertain on the Irish Caribbean cruise which takes place in January. They
are appearing at many Irish festivals throughout the US. Bud continues to negotiate with other
performers for next year’s festival.
Our first meeting
of the new season will take place on Thursday, September 2nd at the Elks
Lodge. You are always welcome to
have dinner at the Elks before the meeting. Dinner is served from 5 to
7pm. More details about the meeting in the August Newsletter.
If you have acquired an email address please email Mary at maryoneill6@yahoo.com with this update.
Even though our club has
no summer activities planned, The United Irish of SWFL has invited our members
to a...
Luau on Aug. 1, 2010
at The Myerlee Country Club
1380 Myerlee Country Club Blvd
(Cypress Lake to Winkler)
4-5:30 Social Hour
5:30-6 Tropical Buffet
6-9 Entertainment by
Side-by-Side
Mail check for $15 each to:
Bev
Gilmore
16731 Juanita Ave
Ft. Myers, FL 33908
Or call for more info 466-0807
(Reservation must be made by July 16th
& only 100 tickets printed)
May the Lord keep you in
His hand and never close His fist too tight.
Irish Blessing Some Irish Facts
- The longest place name in Ireland is Muckanaghederdauhaulia,
in County Galway.
- An odd Irish
birthday tradition is to lift the birthday child upside down and give
his head a few gentle bumps on the floor for good luck. The number of
bumps should allegedly correspond to the child’s age plus one.
- So long paddy
wacker.
Wooden truncheons, which have been carried by Irish police since the
1800s, will finally be phased out this year, and replaced by lightweight
retractable batons. The truncheons, with notches, fancy carvings and names
cut into them, were often passed down generations of gardai.
- The original
Guinness Brewery in Dublin has a 9,000 year lease on its property,
at a perpetual rate of 45 Irish pounds per year.
- IRELAND FACT:
A ROUGH HANGOVER CURE: One traditional Irish cure for a hangover was to be
buried up to the neck in moist river sand.
- The island of
Montserrat is sometimes called "The Emerald Isle of the
Caribbean," and has a shamrock carved above the door of the
governor's home, areas called Cork and Kinsale, and people with names like
O'Garra and Riley. This is because the island was originally settled in
1633 by Irish-Catholics, who came from the nearby island of St. Kitts.
(After a major volcanic eruption from 1995 - 2003, Montserrat is now
partially open to tourism again.)
- IRELAND FACTS: HANDMADE GOLF COURSE...County Mayo's Carne
Golf Links, which was built between 1987 and 1993, was constructed
mainly by farmers using hand spades and rakes.
- Thanks http://www.ireland-fun-facts.com/ireland-facts.html
April 2010 Newsletter
Our last meeting of the season held on Thursday, April 1st
was a great time for all 38 members & guests who attended. After a short business meeting Teresa Roddy, guest
speaker, gave a brief history of ceili dancing and the difference between ceili
dancing, step dancing and set dancing.
Then the fun began. Brian Bonner played
the accordion while Teresa and Una Bonner instructed many of the members on
some simple ceili dances. It was a
preview of ceili dancing instructions which was held at the VFW Post on
Wednesday, April 7th and will be continue on Wednesday, April 14th
beginning at 6:30pm. The VFW Post is located at 4709
SE 11th Place. Come to
dance or just to listen. You don't need a partner, just some patience and
a willingness to have fun.
As you were informed in the March Newsletter, the 6th
Annual Irish Festival was very successful.
We had more than 8,000 people in attendance. After we have paid all expenses of the
festival we expect to have a profit of $40,000.
We have already made several charitable contributions. These
organizations include the Mahigan Scholarship Fund, the Organ Transplant
Recipients, Funds for US Soldiers sponsored by the Elk’s Lodge, The Cape Coral
Caring Center, the ALS Association, Boy Scout Troop #34, the Cape Coral Special
Populations, the Candlelighters of SWFL, The Knights of Columbus, Cape Coral
Hope Hospice, and The Cape Coral Rowing Team. If we did not have the wonderful
volunteers we do have, our club could never have made these contributions.
On April 8th the Cape Coral Irish American Club
hosted the Festival Volunteer Party at the Yacht Club Pavilion. We had 102
people who had volunteered for the festival. Eighty people were in attendance at the party. A special “thank you” goes out to club
members, Walter and Karen O’Rourke, who catered the party. The food was
excellent! Another “thank you” goes to
Brian Bonner, for his wonderful music.
Thanks also to Una Bonner who organized a demonstration of ceili
dancing. Anne Carney displayed all of
the 300 pictures she had taken at the festival and she encouraged the
volunteers to take any pictures in which they were included.
Mark your calendars for next year! THE 7TH ANNUAL IRISH FESTIVAL OF CAPE CORAL will
take place on March 5th & 6th, 2011 at the Bavarian Gardens
of the GASC. As you know, planning for the next festival begins as soon
as the previous festival ends. Much work
must be done. One of the most successful
aspects of fund raising for the festival was the Trip to Ireland Raffle especially
since the club was reimbursed the full amount from the company representing the
Pine Island Travel Agency. We are very
much aware of the need to continue this raffle. The best way we have of
accomplishing that goal is to ask our members to sell raffle tickets to their
friends and relatives. You will be
contacted at a later date about selling these tickets. We also had great
success with our Ad/Program Book. The book grew from 32 pages in 2009 to a full
48 pages in 2010. It is essential that
we have more salesmen out contacting businesses in Cape Coral. Please consider being an ad book salesman.
Thanks to all those
who voted for West of Galway Band! BATTLE OF THE BANDS
1ST PLACE WINNER
WEST
OF GALWAY
Please pass along our
heartfelt thank you and appreciation to your membership for everything you’ve
done for West of Galway. We’re just five really good friends who love to play and share
music taught to us by our parents and grandparents many moons ago. Now
because of the support we’ve received we get to share this music with a new
audience in County Down, Ireland July 18th!
Due to the “snowbirds” flying & driving north there
seemed to be little interest in having a social at the Elks on Thursday, May 6th. For this reason we have decided not to meet
until September. . Since we have no planned events during the summer one of our
members, Kerry Ann Bauer has a suggestion. The GASC will have several
Saturday night dances now through September of various type themes. Kerry will forward
the information to the club. This would be a good opportunity for the club to
get table(s) together at the dances as a way to continue to get together during
the off-season months. And we all know
where the GASC club is located after spending many hours there on March 6th
& 7th. If Club members
would like to attend, Kerry can offer same ticket price as a GASC member. Information
about the dances will be included in the newsletter or you can contact Kerry
Ann at (home: kerrysteve@webtv.net
or work: Kerry.bauer@am.sony.com)
MARCH 2010 NEWSLETTER
The 6th Annual Irish Fest was a huge success thanks to
our 102 festival volunteers. Without our volunteers, the festival
would not have been successful. Despite the cold weather on
Saturday night and the competition of the "Celebrate Cape Coral"
weekend, we had over 8,000 people attend our festival. That is an
increase of 2,000 in attendance from last year. Everyone should
pat themselves on the back for a job well done. Many of our
volunteers admitted they had a good time at the fest even though they
worked hard. Everyone had an opportunity to get to know other
members they may not have met at any of the club meetings. An added
bonus of the festival was that we now have 34 new member families in
our club. Any fest requires much advance planning which begins
immediately after ending the previous event. It is the work of the
volunteers which actually makes the festival a success. Our club
has the greatest members and we appreciate everyone for their
dedication. Even after six years of experience there is
always an opportunity to improve. A detailed report of the
festival will be given at the April 1st meeting.
CONGRATULATIONS! Lucky Winners of Trip to Ireland Raffle Ray & Sharon Kelly Trenton, Michigan
We had our best turnout at our March 4th meeting. There were 64
members & 4 guests present. Dr. Alice Carney presented her
personal analysis of the bestselling book "County Mayo" written by Mary
Pat Kelly. Our next meeting will be Thursday, April 1st at the
Elk's Lodge which is located at 4631 SE 10th Pl. The meeting
begins at 7pm. Our guests will be club members Brian & Una
Bonner who will acquaint us with ceili dancing. Teresa Roddy
(from Sligo) via Detroit will explain what ceili dancing is and the
difference between that, step and set dancing. They will then
demonstrate a few very, very simple dances and involve the members and
guests present. Dinner is served from 5 to 7pm and the menu includes a
great chef's salad, fried fish, fried shrimp, hamburgers, chicken wings
or barbeque ribs. All dinners are very reasonably priced. Have you been
searching for a place to do ceili dancing? Come to the VFW Post
located at 4709 SE 11th Place on Wednesday, April 7th and/or April 14th
from 7pm to 9pm. Brian & Una Bonner have made
arrangements with the VFW. You do not have to know how to do
ceili dancing. You can just come and enjoy the company. If all
goes well the Bonner's plan to get it started back up in October.
Last call for membership renewal! Renewal must be completed by March 31rst. Click HERE for renewal form. FEBRUARY 2010 NEWSLETTER We had a wonderful turn out at our February 4th
meeting. There were 46 members & 7 guests present. Two new
members, Linda Tanos and Gail Watson were introduced to the group.
Welcome to both of you. Anne Carney, native of County Mayo
& club member, presented her personal reflection on the influence
of Irish music in her life. Our next meeting will be Thursday, March
4th at the Elk's Lodge which is located at 4631 SE 10th Pl. The meeting
begins at 7pm. Our guest speaker is Dr. Alice Carney, native of County
Mayo, former school librarian & club member, will present her
analysis of the bestselling book "County Mayo" written by Mary Pat
Kelly. Dinner is served from 5 to 7pm and the menu includes a
great chef's salad, fried fish, fried shrimp, hamburgers, chicken wings
or barbeque ribs.
Reminder! Membership
renewal must be completed by March 31st. After this date we will
assume you do not wish to remain a part of the Cape Coral Irish
American Club and will remove your name from our list.
We are planning a night at Cultural Park Theatre to see
"Kiss Me Kate" on Friday, February 26th. The cost is
$11/person-group rate. The play begins at 8pm. If you have
not signed up and are interested please call 540-2161. Tickets
are going fast.
We are also looking into a
Sunset Cruise toward the end of March. The cruise would be two
hours and would be leaving from Cape Coral one hour before
sunset. The cost will be between $24 & $27 per person, but we
need at least 30 people to sign up. Presently, we have eight
people interested depending on the date. If interested please call
540-2161.
****************************************************************************** Festival, Festival, Festival!!!
That seems to be the only thing on our minds right
now. We want everyone in SWFL to have our 6th Annual Irish
Festival of Cape Coral on their minds as an event they just cannot
miss. We have been passing out information about our festival at
several venues. We will be at the Farmer's Market at Club Square
for the next three weeks and the Sunset Celebration at the Yacht Club
on Wednesday, March 3rd. If anyone could come and volunteer
to hand out flyers & sell Trip to Ireland raffle tickets it would
be greatly appreciated. We have already distributed 2000
Festival Program/Ad Book to businesses throughout the area.
We need you to tell everyone you know about our festival! - Continuous Irish Entertainment
- Irish Food-Corned Beef & Cabbage + Shepherd's Pie + other food choices
- Many Irish Vendors selling beautiful Irish goods + other Vendors
- A Free Children's Craft's & Game Area
- Carnival Rides Available
- and of Course we must not forget the Beer & Wine!
If anyone could donate a bottle of alcohol (no wine please-we have enough) for our "Basket of Cheer Raffle" please call 540-2161 FOR A PICK UP.
Bud has completed the list of volunteers needed to fill
all the positions for all shifts for both days of the fest. If you do
not have a confirmed time but did volunteer, please call Bud @
542-5622. The volunteer T-shirts, which are free, will be
available at the March 4th meeting. If the shirts are not picked
up before the fest they will be available at the Volunteer Tent "Check
In" when you come to work your assigned shift. We ask all
volunteers to wear the t-shirt when working at the fest. You will
be easily identifiable and no one else but volunteers will be wearing
these shirts. Volunteers are to enter the West Entrance of the
grounds which is just west of the GASC building. Drive to the
blacktop parking lot behind the building and park. You must then
proceed to the Volunteer Tent which will be at the NE corner of the
GASC building. Please arrive at least 15 minutes before your
shift begins. You will be checked in at this time. When
your shift is finished please return to the Volunteer Tent and receive
your food & drink tickets. The volunteers working the last
shift will be given their food & drink tickets when they arrive
before all the food & beer is sold out!
Please turn in all "Trip to Ireland Raffle" tickets, whether sold or unsold, by March 1st. Send to: Cape Coral Irish American Club PO Box 101511 Cape Coral, FL 33910
We believe in Irish Luck, but please say a few prayers for good weather and good attendance at our Festival!
May the friendships you make be those which endure, And all of your grey clouds be small ones for sure. And trusting in Him to whom we all pray, May a song fill your heart every step of the way. ~Irish Blessing
JANUARY 2010 NEWSLETTER Fifty five members and five guests attended our last general meeting on
January 7th. Thank you to everyone who brought in sold raffle
tickets, membership renewal and ads for the Program/Ad Book. We
realize we have been requesting many things from our members over the
past several months and we are forever thankful to all of you. Jennifer
Guttieri, a member of our club, was awarded the Richard Mahigan
Scholarship. Jennifer is the 3rd recipient of the annual
scholarship. Jennifer has danced at all of our previous Irish festivals
and many other club sponsored events. The election of 2010 officers
took place. Our new officers are Hank O'Neill, president; Don
Nelson, vice president; Mary O'Neill, secretary; Joe Cobb, treasurer;
Sean Burke, 3 year trustee; Bud Martin, 2 year trustee; and Marilyn
Stanton, 1 year trustee. Our
next general meeting will take place Thursday, February 4th at the
Elk's Lodge located at 4631 SE 10th Pl. The meeting begins at 7pm. Anne
Carney, CCIAC member/volunteer and seasonal Cape Coral resident will
present a short program titled "Irish Music, A Personal Journey."
Anne was born into war-time Europe in 1940 on Market Street in
Swinford, Co. Mayo, one year after England declared war on Nazi
Germany. While in the United States, George M. Cohan and
Harry L. "Bing" Crosby were among the popular Irish American
entertainers. Anne will focus on her personal history to reflect
on the influence of Irish music in her life. Dinner is served from 5 to
7pm and the menu includes a wonderful chef's salad along with the usual
menu of fried fish, fried shrimp, hamburgers, chicken wings &
barbeque ribs. We are asking any members, who are able, to donate a
bottle of alcohol for our "Basket of Cheer" raffle to bring it to the
February meeting. We would like to have three baskets for the
raffle again this year as we have had in the past. If you are
unable to attend the meeting but would like to make a donation, please
call 540-2161 and we will pick it up. We really appreciate your help.
The plans for our 6th Annual Irish Fest are progressing well. The
planning starts when the previous festival ends. We must continue
to sell tickets for the Trip to Ireland until the raffle drawing takes
place at the end of the festival on Sunday, March 7th.
Volunteers will be needed at the Farmer's Market at Club Square on
January 30th, February 13th, 20th & 21st. We will be vendors
at the Caloosahatchee Celtic Festival at Centennial Park in downtown Ft
Myers from 11am to 6pm. We also participated in the Sunset Celebration
at the Yacht Club Beach on the first Wednesday of the month. We
will be participating on February 3rd. We hand out information
about the festival & sell raffle tickets at these events. We have
73 individuals signed up to volunteer at the festival. We need
many more! If you would like to participate for any of these events
call Mary at 239-540-2161.
Many of our members have asked for an opportunity to learn Ceili
Dancing. The Bonner's have made arrangements and everyone is
welcome. It will take place upstairs at Icabod's Restaurant
located at 18351 S. Tamiami Trail, Ft Myers beginning at 7pm on Sunday,
January 24th, January 31st and February 7th. There will be
Ceili and some old time waltzes. Come out and get some good
exercise the fun way!
See OUTSIDE EVENT for new events!
Like the gold of the sun, like the light of the day, May the luck of the Irish shine bright on your way, Like the glow of a star, and the lilt of a song May these be your joys all your life long. ~Irish Blessing
DECEMBER 2009 NEWSLETTER
We had a wonderful turnout at our December meeting. There were 44
people in attendance including two guests. Mary Alice Reeseman gave an
enlightening talk on the history of Irish music. Everyone participated
in a sing along of some well known Irish songs. During the social hour,
Mary Alice entertained us with some Christmas carols played on the
bagpipe. A very big “THANK YOU” to all those who donated children’s
toys or non perishable food to the Cape Coral Caring Center. It was
greatly appreciated.
Our next general meeting takes
place Thursday, January 7th beginning at 7pm at the Elk’s Lodge located
at 4631 SE 10th Pl. Our guest speaker is Finbarr Corr, noted therapist,
professor and author who will discuss “What happened to the Catholicism
we grew up with in Ireland???” Dinner is served from 5 to 7pm and the
Elks now offers a wonderful chef’s salad along with the usual menu of
fried fish, fried shrimp, hamburgers, chicken wings & barbeque
ribs. Election of 2010 officers will take place at the January
meeting. The slate includes Hank O’Neill, president; Don Nelson, vice
president; Mary O’Neill, secretary, Joe Cobb, treasurer; Marilyn
Stanton, 1 year trustee, Sean Burke, 3 year trustee.
It is with sadness that we must tell you of the death of one of our
members, Frank Cappioppoli who succumbed to ALS after a valiant fight.
Our sincere condolences go out to his wife, Patricia and her family.
Ad sales for our Festival Ad/Program Book are in the last few
weeks. Presently, ten members have become patrons at a cost of $20
each and eight larger ads have been purchased by other members. If you
have sold an ad please bring ad to the January meeting or mail it in
to:
Cape Coral Irish American Club PO Box 101511 Cape Coral, FL 33910
Also if anyone is in need of Trip to Ireland raffle tickets
please call Bud at 239-542-5622. As you know our goal of the raffle is
to be able to pay all the expenses of the entertainment for the
festival. If you have sold tickets please bring stubs & checks to
the January meeting or mail to the club at the address listed above.
We are in need of volunteers not only for the festival itself but
also for the Caloosahatchee Celtic Festival on Saturday, January 23rd
held at Centennial Park in Ft. Myers from 10am to 6pm. We will be at
the Sunset Celebration at the Yacht Club on Wednesdays, January 6th
& February 3rd. We will also be participating in the Farmer’s
Market on Saturday’s, January 30th, February 7th, 14th, and 21st. We
will be giving out information about the festival and selling raffle
tickets at all these events.
May the new year bring
The warmth of home and hearth to you.
The cheer and goodwill of friends to you,
The hope of a childlike heart to you.
The joy of a thousand angels to you, The love of the
Son and God’s peace to you. ~Irish
Blessing
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NOVEMBER
2009 NEWSLETTER
We had 41 members present at the November 5th
meeting. We also had three guests attend. They were Jim & Marie Cahill and Ken
Nelson. The Cahill’s were the winners of
the Trip to Ireland Raffle. Marie spoke to
the group about their enjoyable trip.
Many members learned about the history of the traditional Irish wake
which was presented by Mary O’Neill. Our
next meeting is December 3rd at the Elks Lodge which is located at 4631 SE 10th Pl. The
meeting begins at 7pm. Our guest speaker is Mary
Alice Reeseman, a member of the Lee County Pipe & Drum Band. She will be
discussing the history of Irish music. Dinner is served from 5 to 7pm and the
Elks now offers a wonderful chef’s salad along with the usual menu of fried
fish, fried shrimp, hamburgers, chicken wings & barbeque ribs. Anyone who would like to contribute to the
Cape Coral Caring Center please bring a non perishable food item or an
unwrapped gift for a child to the December meeting.
Our social at the Yacht Club Pavilion on
Sunday, November 15th was a huge success. We had over 100 people in attendance. Our entertainment by Art Arway, bagpiper;
Brian Bonner, playing accordion; and Tommy Barr, singing & playing guitar
was superb. Many of our members danced
to the wonderful music. The food was great thanks to Don Nelson. Thank you also to George Miller and Tiny
Conaton who did the cooking. Thank you to the many helpers who assisted serving
the food.
We are continuing to sell ads for our
Festival Program/Ad Book. Please
consider being a patron. For $20 your
name will be listed in the book. Also if
anyone is in need of raffle tickets please call Bud at 239-542-5622. The tickets would make wonderful stocking
stuffers or gifts for Christmas.
The CCIAC along with the Notre Dame Club and the United
Irish of SW FL will be sponsoring a Book Signing by Mary Pat Kelly, Author of
Galway Bay, in which covers one family's epic journey capturing both the
tragedy and triumph of the Irish-American experience--and echoes the myths and
legends of Ireland. Irish music for the event will be provided by Harry Boyle. The event will take place on
January 11, 2010 at Icabod's Wicked Food and Drink, formerly Dwyer's Irish Pub,
located at 13851 S Tamiami Trail in South Fort Myers. Please RSVP
Icabod's at telephone number 239-267-1611 line 2. There
is no charge to attend the event which begins at 4:30 P.M. and is Happy Hour
with a cash bar. There will be complimentary Hors D'oeuvres.
The Irish Tenors will be appearing at Barbara Mann Theatre
on Saturday, November 28, 2009. See info
below. Cahal Dunne, one of our festival
performers, will be appearing at Cape Coral High School on Saturday, January 2,
2010 at 7pm. Tickets cost $15 each and
may be purchased at Advermarket Printing located at 4720 SE 15th
Ave, Unit 115; Cape Scooter & More located at 939 Country Club Blvd; or Joe
Vieceli at 239-542-5099. This
event is sponsored by the Knights of Columbus.
It
is with sadness we must notify you that one of our own, Patrick Jones, has
died. Pat was one of our loyal members. He and his wife, Inge, were always willing to
help with any job that needed to be done.
Pat and his quick wit will be sorely missed. Pat, we hope you are getting all the soda
bread you desire in heaven!
May the
lilt of lush laughter lighten every load,
May the midst of Irish magic shorten every road.
May you taste the sweetest pleasures
that fortune ever bestowed,
And may all your friends remember
all the favors you are owed.
Irish Blessing
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OCTOBER 2009
NEWSLETTER
We
had a great attendance at our October 1st meeting. Byron Wallace presented the second part of
searching for your Irish roots which was very informative. Remember this is
only an introduction to research and can be further enhanced by attending free
classes on searching your Irish roots which is held on the second Tuesday of
the month at Harvey Engle Funeral Home located at 1600 Colonial Blvd., Ft.
Myers. You may contact Byron at bywallace@earthlink.net we had four new
families join our Irish club. They include
Byron and Kaye Wallace, Jerry &
Rita Deputy, Carol Fitzgerald and Bill & Rose Young. Welcome!
We had a great attendance at the Columbus Day Parade on
Saturday, October 10th. The following members marched in the parade. They included Thelma
Macone, Paul Ryan, Nancy Doherty (a non member
and friend of Mary Nelson), Mary and Don Nelson, Rose and Bill Young, Ed and Marilyn Stanton, Pete & Maureen
Walsh, Kristin Walsh, David Williams and three
young children, Byron Wallace, Jerry & Rita Deputy, Angie and Bud
Martin. Thank you one and all for your
support. We want the community to be
aware we are an active, viable club in Cape Coral. When we as a club are involved in community events,
we are sending a positive message about our club.
Our next meeting is Thursday,
November 5th. Mary O’Neill
will talk about the history of the “Irish Wake”. The meeting begins at 7pm. Dinner is served at the Elk’s Lodge from 5 to
7pm. The dinners are very reasonably
priced and include a choice of Barbecue
Ribs w/FF & Baked Beans; Fried Fish w/ FF & Cole Slaw; Fried
Shrimp w/FF & Cole Slaw; Hamburger or Cheeseburger w/ FF & Cole Slaw
and a Chef Special. Please remember the waitresses work for tips
only.
If anyone has not received tickets
for the Trip to Ireland Raffle and would like some, please email maryoneill6@yahoo.com or call Bud at
239-542-5622. The donation for each ticket is $5. For those members who already received raffle
tickets and have been able to sell some of the tickets, we would appreciate you
turning in stubs with check made out to the Cape Coral Irish American Club at
next meeting or by mail. Please send to
CCIAC, PO Box 101511, Cape Coral, Fl 33910. Hopefully the profit from the raffle will
allow us to pay the cost of all the entertainment for the festival.
We have already started
advertising for the 6th Annual Irish Fest. We will have an ad in the News-Press Visitors
Guide which will be distributed at the end of November. We will also have an ad on the Farmers Market
Poster which will be visible throughout Cape Coral for 6 months. Once our
Festival T-shirts are available, we will be asking our festival volunteers to
wear their t-shirt to not only the festival but at other community events as a
means of free advertising.
Since we are planning a bigger
& better Irish Fest in 2010, we are in need of many more volunteers. Although we are already counting on you, if
you have any friends that would like to come and volunteer even though they are
not members of the club please let us know. Tell your friends that we guaranteed
a great time.
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Mark your calendar!
WELCOME BACK
"THE IRISH GREEN, WHITE & ORANGE PARTY" SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2009
YACHT CLUB
PAVILION
5819 DRIFTWOOD
PARKWAY
2PM TO 7PM
TICKETS $5.00 PER PERSON OR $10.00 PER FAMILY
FOOD, SOFT DRINKS AND WATER PROVIDED
"BRING YOUR OWN ALCOHOL IF DESIRED"
ENTERTAINMENT PROVIDED!
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Reservations for the Green, White & Orange Party must be made in
advance. Tickets will be available at
the November 5th meeting or you may call Mary at 239-628-2162 or email
maryoneill6@yahoo.com.
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May
your day be touched
by a bit of Irish luck,
brightened by a song in your heart,
and warmed by the smiles
of the people you love.
Irish
Blessing
SEPTEMBER 2009
NEWSLETTER
Our 2009-2010 year started with a wonderful turn-out. We had 31 members present for the
meeting. Even more wonderful, we have
three new families who joined our club.
Welcome Brian & Bonnie Bonner, John Lawlor and Jim & Mary Pat
Roleke. Our guest speaker, Byron
Wallace, was ever enlightening on the subject of researching your Irish
roots. Next month Byron will again be
our guest speaker and will present “There are Irish Records—How to Find Them”, the
second part of the series. Remember this
is only an introduction to research and can be further enhanced by attending
free classes on searching your Irish roots which is held on the second Tuesday
of the month at Harvey Engle Funeral Home located at 1600 Colonial Blvd., Ft.
Myers. You may contact Byron at bywallace@earthlink.net.
Raffle tickets for the trip to Ireland have been distributed
to almost half of the club members. If
you have not received your raffle tickets and would be willing to buy or sell
some tickets, please contact Bud at 239-542-5622. As you know from previous
newsletters the tickets are $5 each and include airfare for two, stay at
B&B’s and a car rental. If someone
over seventy mentions they will not buy a ticket because they would be unable
to rent a car in Ireland due to their age, let them know alternate arrangements
can be made through the travel agent if they win. The raffle will be held at the end of the
festival on Sunday, March 7th. Last year the profit from the raffle actually
paid for the total entertainment costs.
The Ad/Program Book is an important component for a
successful festival. The profit from the
ad booklet actually paid for the rental of the Bavarian Gardens of the German
American Social Club last year. We are in need of some more volunteers to help
canvas the city of Cape Coral. If you
could help in this project please email maryoneill6@yahoo.com
or call 239-628-2162. Several of our members have already promised to buy an ad
for their business. We realize the
economy is still in a down-turn, but a good way to sell your product is through
advertising and our ads are very reasonably priced. Many of our families buy a personal ad. You
can show your support of our club by buying an ad or being a patron for a
donation of $20. Our ads range in price from $150 for a full page to $30 for a
business card ad. There is an additional
cost for color in the ad.
Bud Martin is working diligently to secure first class
entertainment for the festival.
Entertainers already committed at this time include Cahal Dunne, Kathy
& Andreas Durkin, West of Galway Band, Harry Boyle, Tommy Barr and the Lee
County Drum & Pipe Band. The Irish
Step Dancers, always great crowd pleasers, will again be an important part of
our festival.
The remainder of our meetings for the year will be on the
first Thursday of the month. Plan on
joining us at our next meeting on Thursday, October 1st at the Elk’s Lodge
located at 4631 SE
10th Pl. The meeting begins at 7pm with Byron Wallace
presenting the second part of his program on searching for your Irish
roots. Remember dinner is served at the
Elk’s from 5 to 7pm. The menu includes Barbecue Ribs w/FF &
Baked Beans; Chef Salad, Fried Fish w/ FF & Cole Slaw; Fried Shrimp
W/FF & Cole Slaw; Hamburger/Cheeseburger W/ FF & Cole Slaw and Chicken
Wings. If you do come for dinner before the meeting, just remind your
waitress you are from the Irish Club so we get credit.
Volunteer t-shirts are on order. Remember if you volunteer to work at the
festival you will be given a t-shirt free of charge as promised last year. We only ask that you sign up on the Festival
Volunteer Sheet. By signing up you
commit to working a minimum 3 hour shift on Saturday or Sunday. Since the festival runs eleven hours on
Saturday and eight hours on Sunday, we definitely could use our volunteers both
days. Since advertising is a very big part of our budget, we have found that
wearing our bright safety green festival t-shirt whenever we are out and about is
our very best means of advertising.
Our first social event of the new season will take place Sunday
Nov. 15th at the Yacht Club Pavilion. We would like all of our 148
families to attend “The
Green, White & Orange Party”. Please mark your calendars. More details to follow soon.
May the spirit of the Irish
Be forever at your side
With loyalty, love and
friendship
Bring you Irish
Pride
~ Irish Proverb
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