Mike Finn joined iIrish in May, 2007, our 5th issue, 18 years ago. His column was titled Illuminations. I cannot place value on his counsel, which was often sought, given freely, and will be sorely missed by so many.
Mike illuminated so much more than just history, offering insights, experience and well thought out wisdom, that made us all better. An accomplished and generous man of infinite patience and class, Mike was a warrior, in every way.
After a long and rocky road health battle, Mike passed away July 7th. He and his wife Marion celebrated their 51st Wedding Anniversary recently. Please keep Marion and the Finn family in your prayers in this tremendous loss.
I hope Mike, Francis McGarry and Linda Burke are telling great auld stories, their love of music and, in their spare time, watching over us. We lost them all in 15 months. Read more about Mike, in our Safe Home column on Page 13.
Cleveland Irish Cultural Festival
We celebrated our 40th Cleveland Irish Cultural Festival July 18th – 20th. Started in 1983 by a small group of dedicated, culturally driven volunteers, led by my dad’s visionary mission to preserve, present and celebrate our so very rich Irish and Irish American heritage, we have survived and thrived the ups and downs of 40 years, donated more than ¾ of a million dollars to local and national charities, and helped people find connections in their soul that they needed, whether through being inspired to play music, sports, discover their roots or learn about who they are, and why.
It was so disappointing to see The Agora decide to host The Saw Doctors on Friday night of the festival at their concert hall here in Cleveland. Not a thing we can do about it – it is of course their choice to do what they want – but as an event only held once a year, always the 3rd weekend of July, that has and will continue to impact our community in significant monetary and inspirational ways, including musically, it is disappointing that they did not choose any of the other 51 weekends of the year to celebrate our culture too. They would have done just as well, another weekend; we did not have that option.
Despite that, we had a good year, great music, mostly cool and comfortable weather and did I mention fantastic music? A star-studded lineup included Cherish the Ladies (also celebrating their 40th year), the High Kings, Reverie Road, Ally the Piper, Scythian, and so much more, including a jam session featuring all loaded with talent ladies, (mostly) fiddlers, from the many bands gracing our stages over the weekend. FANtastic! Hope we see you there, July 17 – 19, 2026.
Of course, we also had a bit of sports, Irish language and other workshops, food & drink, cultural displays, Irish dogs, ever-expanding Tir na Nog Children’s Playland … I’m running out of space, but we are not running out of love for sharing.
To get your fill, see August, What’s Craic? activities, Taking the Fields of Glory results in the march to the Gaelic sports U.S. National Championships, and so much more to see and do, within. There is endless space on iirish.us for the things we couldn’t fit here, including more pictures and videos; things that came in after we went to print; all the craic, and the details to not miss any of it, too.
OB’s 1st Tour of Ireland Was Spectacular
Hundreds of Ireland pics are available on the iIrish.us
12th Year of Speak Irish Cleveland Launches September 16th ~ New students welcome!
Next month we begin our 12th year sponsoring Speak Irish Cleveland, once again with the generous support of P.J. McIntyres. We are short a teacher or three – you don’t have to be fluent, just willing to share under the assistance/guidance of Bob Carney to help newcomers get started, and learn together.
I hope you have had and continue to have a great summer, rich in all that matters to you.
Nuair a stapann an ceol, an damhsa déanann an amhlaidh
(When the music stops, so does the dance)
John
