FOXBURG, Pa. — With St. Patrick’s Day fast approaching, cities all across America are preparing to celebrate all things Irish in honor of the patron saint of Ireland, who is said to have performed thousands of miracles as he converted Ireland from paganism.
While Boston lays claim to having held the first St. Patrick’s Day Parade in 1737, New York City is said to have the world’s biggest, with 150,000 marching in their St. Patrick’s Day parade — bagpipers, Irish dancers, and bands galore — and an audience of about 3 million.
In Seattle, they hold a ceremony where a green stripe is painted down the roads and racers donned in green hair, hats and costumes run in a nearly four-mile St. Patrick’s Day Dash. In Chicago as part of their St. Patrick’s Day celebration, they dye the Chicago River green, attributing some of the magic to none other than a special leprechaun.
Laying claim to its own St. Patrick’s Day miracle, on good authority, a leprechaun has promised that in Foxburg, instead of magically turning the Allegheny River “green,” the River’s ice jams will be melted all the way down through Parker!
Locally, with the luck of the Irish, it will be just in time for Allegheny RiverStone Center for the Arts’ event featuring the return, by popular demand, of Carnival of Souls on Saturday, March 16, at 7:30 p.m.in Lincoln Hall to add to your weekend of St. Paddy’s Day fun.
The Celtic instrumental and vocal group, Carnival of Souls, returns to Lincoln Hall after last year’s uplifting and spirited St. Patrick’s Day weekend performance. Filling the stage at Lincoln Hall once again and rousing the toe-tapping spirits of everyone in the audience will be Brian and Kelly Lowry, Roy Abbott, Daryl Hartman, Jonathan Shegog and three of the Lowry clan—Caitlin, Benjamin, and Joshua.
This inter-generational Celtic Band of eight musicians led by Brian and Kelly Lowry uses a wide variety of traditional and non-traditional instruments to produce a rich range of music, which would be at home on any concert stage in western Pennsylvania, in a pub in Dublin or in a coffee shop in Shadyside. Their concert in Lincoln Hall will feature Highland pipes, Bodhran drumming, 12 string and bass guitars, mandolin, fiddle, flute, hammered dulcimer, accordion, keyboards, and the Mighty McKissick Wurlitzer Theatre Organ along with high-spirited vocals.
Carnival of Souls is renowned and much beloved in the region. ARCA is fortunate that they have reserved a night for a local appearance in Foxburg. Carnival of Souls has been performing traditional and original Celtic music in Western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio and West Virginia for twenty years and have a devoted following. They have two compact discs –SconeHenge, and their first CD, No Scone Unburned, was acclaimed by Dirty Linen, the international magazine of folk music. Their CDs also can be found in the Irish music archives in Dublin. Both are available for sale on their website, www.carnivalofsouls.com.
Bring out your inner Leprechaun, tap your toes and kick up your heels – and join us for a spirited and joyous family concert with Carnival of Souls!
Let’s go Green! See you the on the 16th. Erin go bragh!!
Tickets are $15.00 for adults and $5.00 for students.
Buy tickets online at: www.alleghenyriverstone.org or reserve by calling 724-659-3153. Tickets may also be purchased at the door.
