But there will be cottage fries with curry gravy, corned beef, soda bread, and more fine foods (as well as, at the site that hosts ethnic festivals every weekend, an array of delicacies from other groups . . . if with a nod to the Irish with the renaming of a dessert stand as the improbable "Mother Machree's Strudel House."  Ah, cross-culturalism at its weirdest.)

And yes, I have been to the St. Paddy's Day parade in NYC, and it was fun, once.  But this fest is a weekend long, every year, and a must -- mainly for the music and dance, many from the Irish diaspora here and in eastern Canada . . . but mainly the best and the biggest from Eire itself.  And on many stages at once. from the Gathering tonight to the Scattering on Sunday night.

The Scattering is a favorite, the farewell ceili, when we bang the bodhrans from the four corners of the fest grounds to come together at the mainstage, where all of the performers jam.  Of course, it's also fun to know which pubs they prefer after the fest every night, when they jam there as well.  

Btw, for those who blame the cashier, consider this comment to the story above.  Thank heavens that the cashier was not fired, nor the manager -- but customers were lost, because the CEO was another of those oh-so-special entitled folks:

I used to work at a Piggly Wiggly store in Sheboygan, where Piggly Wiggly was based. One day, the President of the Company came in and went in the express lane with a cart and 20 items. The checker who was new told him that it was for 10 items or less. He got mad and told her who he was. Less than 10 minutes later, the store manager was taking down the signs that hung from the ceiling saying "Express Lane 10 items or less" on orders of the president. After that the store had no express lane and people who stopped in for only a few items after work stopped coming in to shop.