It's A Green Lights Friday Night:
So, America tangled up in a blue state, red state battle as usual, can all agree on one thing - A wearin' of the Green.
In fact, a recent poll by (nationaltoday.com) shows that 9 out of 10 Americans will be celebrating St. Patrick's Day on Friday.
Here in the Tri-State, where you can't toss an Irish Road Bowl without knocking over a dozen folks with Scots-Irish roots, it may be 10 out of 10. So, here's a look at a few cool ways to get your Irish on.
A Charlie Brown Paddy's Day:
That dance-floor destroying DJ Brett Fuller (Charlie Brown Superstar) is good for all seasons from his famous Christmas show to St. Paddy's Day. Head to the V Club, 741 6th Ave., for an early evening (doors at 7 p.m.) when CBS will be spinning early evening and then late night sets with headliners the funkalicious M.F.B., and Athens, Ohio, band Hellnaw both playing two sets. There will also be a Flip Cup Tournament, a Photobooth and Southside Sliders parked outside.Cover is $7 for those 18 and up. Go online at https://www.facebook.com/MuthaFunkin/ and https://www.facebook.com/HellnawOhio/ and https://www.facebook.com/charliebrownsuperstar/ to hear the bands.
A Grand Finale For the 7 Nations:
Scioto County, Ohio's 7 Nations Celtic Club, the only one of its kind in our Tri-State region, kicked off festivities on Wednesday, March 15, but things really get Irish stewing come Friday, March 17. Head to the Port City Pub starting at 5 p.m. Friday, March 17 for a night of Celtic dance with the Cirque D'Art Celtic Dancers, the Rose Mountain Ramblers, and Ian Jones and the Tipperary 3. Among the Saturday festivities, enjoy the annual Portsmouth 7 Nations' Celtic Club's St. Patrick's Parade at 11 a.m., complete with Grand Marshall Sean Dunne, the bagpipers of the Cyril Scott Band, and a sea of folks in green attire. The Cyril Scott bagpipers will later go to the Port City Pub , where more Irish dance and music and food will be available throughout the day and evening, including the Cirque D'Art dancers, Amhrain, the Poverty String Band and The Bloody Tinth.
Charleston Pub Crawl:
Head to Chucktown where they are hosting the sixth annual East End St. Patrick's Day Pub Crawl from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. Saturday, March 18 featuring eight East End pubs (Bluegrass Kitchen, Broadway, Fireside Bar & Lounge, Lee Street Lounge, The Empty Glass,The Monkey Barrel, Red Carpet Lounge, and Tricky Fish!), Enjoy free trolley rides provided by KRT from 10 p.m. to midnight. Safe rides home are provided through the Intoxi-Taxi service of C&H Taxi, from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. Free cab rides home (within a 10-mile radius).Call 304-344-4902. The trolley will loop between Pub Crawl and Pub Crawl Late Night (from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.) pubs at the corner of Leon Sullivan Way and Lee Streets.Tickets are $20. All proceeds from ticket sales go toward further East End revitalization efforts.
An Early Night of Acoustic:
Head to Black Sheep Burrito and Brews, 1555 Third Ave., Huntington, where the red-headed hard-traveling troubadour, Tim Lancaster will be performing his folky songs from 8 to 10 p.m. While there check out new brews from the Sheep's own Bad Shepherd Brewing Company. There is no cover.
A Friday Night With the Home Team:
The Big Sandy Superstore Arena has been on a roll with some hot and fresh country coming this way.On the boot heels of concert by Luke Bryan, comes a tour pairing a couple hot newcomers, Thomas Rhett, whose Home Team Tour, stops by the Arena at 7 p.m. Friday, March 17 with Kelsea Ballerini, the only female artist in country music history,including female duos and groups, to go #1 with her first three consecutive singles from a debut album.
Rhett, who has racked up some six No. 1 hits ("It Goes Like This", "Get Me Some of That", "Make Me Wanna", "Crash and Burn", "Die a Happy Man", and "T-Shirt"), has also written singles for Jason Aldean, Lee Brice, and Florida Georgia Line.
Tickets for Friday's concert, which also features newcomers, Russell Dickerson and Ryan Hurd, are $54.75 for General Admission PITT (Standing only) , $49.75 Reserved and $25 Reserved. Additional fees may apply. Go online at www.bigsandyarena.com for more info.
Take A Quilter's Day Out:
In 1990, Phyllis D. Miller of Kentucky started “Quilter’s Day Out” on the third Saturday in March. This day of celebration was declared National Quilting Day and is now celebrated around the world as International Quilting Day.
Kentucky Heritage Quilt Society District 10 will celebrate with Greenup County Quilt Guild hosting the KHQS District 10 (FIVCO) area “Quilter’s Day Out” at the UK Extension Office on U.S. 23, at the intersection with the Industrial Parkway, Wurtland, Ky., from 10 am. to 3 p.m. Saturday, March 18. Admission is free.
There will be special events, displaying of quilts, demos on quilting techniques, vendors, a mini-mall by members with items for sale and door prizes, Light refreshments will be served to all by the Greenup County Quilters. We welcome visitors to bring quilts to share. Come by the Greenup County UK Extension Office to see beautiful Kentucky Quilts.
For more information contact: Danita Miller, 606-831-0460, danita45@aol.com, Greenup County Quilter. Or KHQS District 10 Leader, Nancy K. Osborne, 606-923-4784, nkquilt@gmail.com
Hit the Slopes:
West Virginia's ski resorts are still running wide open after an early week snow dump that's been long overdue. Head up to Canaan Valley where Timberline will be open Friday through Sunday, March 17-19 with its last weekend of skiing before they hand over the mountain next weekend, March 24-26 for their annual snowmobile race on the ski slopes.
South of Beckley, Winterplace, in Ghent, W.Va., still has nearly all of its 27 trails open and with the fresh snow will be wide open too through Sunday, March 26.
Up at Snowshoe Mountain, they've got free lift tickets for WV residents on Saturday, March 18,a pond skim, and will be open daily through March 26.
Take A Trip to the Heartland at HMOA;
Head up on the hill to the Huntington Museum of Art, 2033 McCoy Road, where they are hosting a family-friendly opening reception for this exhibit takes place from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, March 19, for "The James R. Hopkins: Faces of the Heartland" exhibit.
For the first time in 40 years, a major exhibition will focus upon Hopkins and his rural Appalachian subjects. Organized by the Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio, and Keny Galleries, the exhibition will feature more than 50 artworks, including a survey of his figurative work and portraits, with a focus on the works he did in the Cumberland Falls area of Kentucky a century ago.
The exhibition will provide an opportunity to appreciate the refined skills Hopkins displayed as a figure painter as well as a chance to re-examine his depictions of Appalachian subjects and the cultural forces that created a demand for such imagery. Admission to the reception is free.
Award-winning storyteller Adam Booth will present The Lawrence B. & Shirley Gang Memorial Lecture in HMA's Daywood Gallery at 2:15 p.m. to discuss the way Appalachians are viewed by themselves and by others while relating his stories to the artwork in the exhibit.
This program is being presented with financial assistance from the West Virginia Division of Culture and History and the National Endowment for the Arts, with approval from the West Virginia Commission on the Arts.
My Roadtrip Pick:
Head into the heart of central West Virginia as the town of Ireland, W.Va., hosts its annual Irish Spring Festival Saturday, March 18 through Sunday, March 19.
Enjoy this festival that is an awakening of the Appalachian Spring and has a full schedule of events including the hike to the Blarney Rock, a harp concert, parade and a duck race.
One not to miss event is the famed Irish Road Bowling, which kicks off the bowling season in West Virginia. Started by Marie (Burns) Powell who brought Irish road bowls back to West Virginia for the 1995 festival, the Irish Spring Festival will carry the tradition of bowling in the West Virginia’s Irish road bowling “homeplace,” the origin and heart of WV Irish road bowling and the site of 2009 national finals - the long 2.2-mile course from Wildcat Road to Duffy Bridge. Go online at www.angelfire.com/wv/irishspringfestival to find out more about the festival.
Dave Lavender is the author of "Dave Trippin: A Daytripper's Guide to the Appalachian Galaxy of Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia" and his new travel book, "Mo' Dave Trippin" now for sale on Amazon.com and through CreateSpace. Check out the new book at the Red Caboose, Empire Books and News, and now at Camden Park. Lavender covers regional travel. Follow The Herald-Dispatch reporter on Facebook and Twitter @DaveLavenderHD.