Céad Míle Fáilte!

The Celtic phrase for '100,000 welcomes' expresses the sentiment of a warm and welcoming culture, and a festival to match

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Photos by Steve Farmer

They say that on March 17, everyone's Irish. But in Dallas, the wearin' o' the Green begins much sooner. Beginning on Friday, the enormous Fair Park will turn into a little Emerald Isle, with its own wandering minstrels, Scottish Clan Village and Urchin Street.

There's no festival in the United States where this deeply rooted culture shines more brightly than the North Texas Irish Festival, the largest in the Southwest and one of the largest in the nation. More than 40,000 visitors are expected to come this year to enjoy the traditional music, foods, dance and handicrafts – and, of course, the beer.

And for those who are seeking a slightly smaller celebration, San Antonio will host a festival of its own on March 17-19. The Alamo Irish Festival will feature parades, music and a special ceremony in which the famous San Antonio River will take on a distinctive shade of green.

Erin en grande

For the full-blown immersion experience, however, it's worth a trip to Dallas, which takes its Irishness seriously with seven stages, 125 crafts vendors and more than 50 musical and dance acts, including numerous nationally known performers and featuring everything from the traditional bagpipes, fiddles and penny whistles to the latest in Celtic rock.

Vendors will offer Celtic-themed jewelry, tapestries, ceramics, woodcarvings and traditional foods such as shepherd's pie and soda bread.

For the children, there's Urchin Street – a little street festival all their own, with roving clowns, face painting, games and children's performances.

And a stroll through the Scottish Clan Village can be instructive on many levels, as well as a good deal of fun. In the Family Tree area, visitors can sit with expert geneaologists and trace their Celtic roots.

This year, the theme is Heirs of Erin, a celebration of the passing of tradition to the next generation. It's a theme Texas' Hispanic side can appreciate, as well. Three years ago, the festival made that connection its theme. The festival that year highlighted the long history of warm relations between the Irish and the Mexican people, manifested most famously by the San Patricios, Irish immigrant soldiers who fled the United States in the Mexican American war to join the Mexicans against what they saw as the American invaders. Many were executed as deserters, despite the fact that they were Irish citizens.

But the Mexican-Irish connection goes far deeper than the San Patricios. As festival organizer Jim Miller put it, "Both cultures share a love of family, tradition and fun."