Raglan Road Set to Host ‘The Great Irish Hooley’ Festival Labor Day Weekend

Today, we welcome guest writer Cari Keebaugh to tell us a little about a very special event taking place this weekend at Downtown Disney: Raglan Road’s Great Irish Hooley Festival.  Take it away, Cari!

Grab your shillelagh and a shamrock; this Labor Day weekend, Raglan Road Irish Pub & Restaurant in Downtown Disney will host their first Irish hooley (party)!

The hooley, according to Raglan Road’s website, is “a unique Irish festival jam packed with the best of Irish music and entertainment culture of Ireland.” The fun will continue from Aug 31 -Sept 3 and will include festive activities and good times for the whole family! Celtic face-painting,  Irish dancing and dance lessons, authentic foods and drinks (alcoholic and otherwise), and an assortment of some of today’s best Irish bands playing both traditional and rock music will make Central Florida’s first Irish hooley one to remember.

The music lineup includes Full Set, an Irish band consisting of an accordion, fiddle, bodhran (a traditional hand-held frame drum), and guitar. Their performances, played Friday through Monday, will mark the beginning of the band’s U.S. tour. Other popular ensembles to play include U2-tribute band Elevation, the new Irish band from Dublin dubbed The Raglan Rogues, “Irish Roots Rocker” Danny Burns, Johnny “Snaggs” Norton, whose repertoire includes tunes from the Traditional Irish Songbook, and popular house band Creel, who will perform all weekend.

As the bands will play both inside and outside, dancing is definitely permitted – in fact, it is encouraged! Irish Dance workshops, “From Our Roots to Riverdance,” will be offered from Saturday to Monday, led by famed Irish dancer and choreographer Ronan McCormack of the original Riverdance cast, along with the Raglan Road Dancers, all six of who are champion Irish dancers. In addition, guests can participate in traditional Ceili (pronounced “kay-lee”) folk dancing sets.

A full schedule of events is available on the Raglan Road Pub’s webpage.