Irish Ceili

When we visited Balboa Park a few weeks ago, we learned that the Museum of Man would host an Irish Ceili. Ceili (or more accurately Céilidhs) is an Irish gathering/party with dancing, music, ballads, and sometimes story telling.
As we approached the Museum, we saw this banner across Laurel Street.


Behind the banner were these pipers to welcome those gathering for the ceili.


Later, the pipers entertained the crowd from the upper floor.


We were pleased to see this truck parked outside since it meant The Field would be serving food! (See our earlier blog on the Field Irish Pub)


We were joined by Don and Iris Newhouse. Don was Bob's pastor in Greensburg in the early 1960's. Iris is a first generation Irish immigrant, having come to the US when she was 19.




Of course there was Guiness! The Guiness girls were a hit! Two beautiful, tall blondes in short skirts were passing out Guiness shamrock necklaces.


Of course, Bob had to have one!


And if Bob has one . . . .


A big part of the party was food provided by several of the Irish pubs in the area.
The fare offered varied from corned beef sandwiches and boxty - potato pancakes filled with delicious chicken mixture


To shepherd's pie and a different boxty - these potato pancakes filled with a spicy beef mix.

Other offerings were Irish bread with a topping of salmon and creamed cheese, bread pudding made with Bailey's Irish Cream and, Irish stew

There was music (of course) with a wide variety of different offerings.


And dancing! These dancers really set the floor on fire with their rapid dancing steps.
They danced both a balletic style and then changed shoes to do the Irish stepdancing made famous by the Riverdance shows. These dancers performed to recorded music.


Note the young girls sitting on the floor in rapt attention!


Later, while one of the groups was playing, this couple came out of the crowd and wowed us with some pretty fancy Irish style dancing. We figured they must be alums of one of these schools.


At the same time, some of the dancers from the earlier show joined in and danced to the folk group. A little boy saw them and decided to join in, to the crowds great delight.


The day ended with a trolley ride back to the Naval Station.
We bought passes good for all of February and used the Trolley and city buses a lot for getting around San Diego. The Pacific Fleet trolley station is about 200 feet from the gate to the Naval Station, so it is very handy.