North Texas Irish Festival 2008

**Cynthia** · 2nd March 08, 08:50 PM

Well, Christopher and I went out to NTIF on Sunday. We had a blast! I'd never been before and wow, there was a lot to see. Lots of people and lots of stuff. I don't usually like crowds, but only had about two moments where I wanted to run out to fresh air. I spotted Ronusan and we chatted for a while, and I caught up with RowdyRed and introduced myself. It was wonderful to meet them both -- I only wish I'd had more time to chat with them. I look forward to seeing them again and meeting more folks from the board.

It was also Christopher's first time out in the kilt and he really enjoyed it. He's looking forward to getting some more accessories and a few more kilts down the line as well as going out more often.

I did get a photo of Ronusan and Christopher together, but I forgot to get a photo of Rowdy because I was so busy just chatting with her... d'oh!!!! I meant to ask her if she was wearing her new skirt. It was so pretty!

I'll have to see if any of the photos turned out and try to post them in the photo section when I get a chance. I just wanted to post a quick note and say how much fun we had and that I'm looking forward to more events.

Hope everyone else had a blast!

**Christo13** · 2nd March 08, 10:29 PM

Originally Posted by Cynthia

I did get a photo of Ronusan and Christopher together, but I forgot to get a photo of Rowdy because I was so busy just chatting with her... d'oh!!!!

It was great meeting Ron and Rowdy.

It was also a great first outing in the kilt. I had a blast wandering the festival, and going out for a drink after the fest.

I definitely look forward to Dallas/Ft. Worth kilt nights with XMarks folks!

Christopher

**Ronusan** · 2nd March 08, 10:30 PM

Was nice meeting you and Christopher there! Festival was great, music was fantastic, and I spent way too much money for as little as I actually brought home...I blame the $5 cups of Guinness.

But the worst part was when I did get home I found $2 in food tickets left in my sporran that I'd forgotten about!

**Cynthia** · 2nd March 08, 10:35 PM

Bummer about the food tickets! We bought two bottles of water (I really needed to guzzle a LOT more water, so no beer for me) and we somehow refrained from buying anything else. We saw a few things we wanted, but we decided to hold off. It was a blast looking around, though. We even checked out some of the Utilikilts. We hadn't seen any in person, so it was nice to be able to feel the fabric and see them close-up.

It was almost too much to take in in one day, though. I mainly stayed in the building with the Scottish Village (I think they called it). The other building was a bit too hot and crowded, and I was seeing a few too many things I wanted to buy. *laughs*

edited to add: Oh! I should admit, that we did buy two copies of Spriggan's CD (one for us, and one for my mother-in-law). Still, we were good

**Bryan** · 3rd March 08, 08:20 AM

Originally Posted by Ronusan

...I blame the $5 cups of Guinness.

Are you kidding me?! I was paying $6 for a cup of Guinness!

I think I saw you Cynthia, but I wasn't sure. Was your hair down? You were with a fellow in a Black Stewart (possibly, couldn't really tell what tartan it was, but predominately black)?

**Cynthia** · 3rd March 08, 08:38 AM

Yes, my hair was down

I paid for it with the wind, though, what a mess! I eventually decided "enough!" and tossed it up with two hairsticks. Christopher was wearing Black Stewart with a red tie (I just put up some photos in the photo section). You should've said hi, sorry we didn't get to meet you

Maybe next time!

I must admit, I already like the look of the XMTS tartan, but now I know I really want to get it. Every time I passed someone in a kilt, I wondered if it was someone from the board.

**Ronusan** · 3rd March 08, 12:09 PM

You're probably right about the Guinness being $6. I just remembered it was a dollar more than the rest. Then the Irish Stew was like another $7, and the Haggis & Tatties, and some more Guinness, and the Fish & Chips....

Anybody make it to the "swap meet" that was supposedly there on Sunday? I remembered reading a mention of it on the NTIF website but we didn't run across it. Sounded interesting.

**Cynthia** · 3rd March 08, 12:22 PM

I didn't even know about a swap meet, so I don't remember seeing anything like that (now watch... I probably walked right past it

).

How were the workshops? I was a little bummed I didn't get to go to the fiddle workshop.

**Ronusan** · 3rd March 08, 12:39 PM

Mandolin workshop the guy went off on tangents quite a bit and it was difficult to hear but overall pretty informative, worth it just for the easy arrangements of a Jig and Reel that he provided to practice with and the good advice of "this is not bluegrass, don't try and play it like bluegrass."

Penny Whistle was fun but it felt (and sounded) a little like a class full of elementary school kids playing Recorder.

She provided some to play on during the workshop for any that wanted to borrow one and also gave us a nice packet of fairly simple whistle sheet music with some very helpful notes on techniques. I got lost quite a bit during her teaching as she referred a lot to the techniques by their Celtic/piping terms (cut, tip, roll, etc) that I don't know well enough yet. Very informative though and should up the "authenticity" of my playing quite a bit!

Missed the Bodhran one earlier in the day as I think it was during a performance we were trying to catch.