26th Annual Dublin Irish Festival – Dublin, Ohio

**creagdhubh** · 6th August 13, 05:07 AM

Originally Posted by Nile

Good one Hawk, you are so right; thanks for that!

Kyle was easy to spot because we've seen the great pictures of him here on the forum but, Andy is new here and may not have been aware of the Dandelions that we 'Dandies of the Rampant Lion' wear to identify ourselves at gatherings (found here). Ironically, I ordered one of those and it was in the mailbox when I got home from Ohio.

It was really great to meet Kyle. Although we were together just a short time, we talked, non stop on a myriad of subjects, (as did our wives) like we were long lost friends.

Nile

It was truly wonderful meeting you and your lovely wife, Nile, and yes, even if it was all too brief, my wife and I both enjoyed our chat very much! It was such a pleasure speaking with you and later that evening, Stephanie and I remarked that we really wished we could have met up much earlier, but alas, sometimes these things (logisitics...lack thereof)) tend to happen at large events of this nature. We hope you and your lovely wife made it safely back to Delaware and that you had a wonderful time during your visit and with your family. We look forward to seeing you both again (we must take you up on your kind invitation to visit you in Delaware - the hot tub sealed the deal for my wife! Hahaha!) very soon!

Slainte,

**creagdhubh** · 6th August 13, 05:09 AM

Originally Posted by Hawk

.....Nile, Andy, Kyle and others.....did you all forget your Dandelions for fellow XMTS identification?

Hawk

I did forget. I actually had boxwood (one of the plant badges of the Clan Macpherson) in my bonnet for a while.

**creagdhubh** · 6th August 13, 05:14 AM

Originally Posted by Slider

I made it to Dublin on Saturday, and then again today.

I was about to approach a dashing chap wearing a fawn Balmoral (I believe it was Kyle...), but my youngest's imminent catastrophic bladder depressurisation diverted my attention for a few moments and when I returned to the spot of the sighting, I couldn't find Kyle to introduce myself. Maybe next time...

My family had a wonderful time at the Festival. I was amazed by the sheer number of people attending on Saturday night - all of a sudden the beer lines went from 2-4 people deep to 40 people deep!

Yes, that was me, Slider. You should have come up and introduced yourself and then excused yourself for the loo...Lord knows I would have definitely understood that, perhaps even joining you myself! Hahaha! I agree, it was incredible how many people were there on Saturday and Saturday night and you are so right about the beer lines (we ended up leaving with 24 unused tokens!) We were quite pleased that the clouds moved out in the morning and cleared up nicely in the afternoon and evening. The evening became so cool that I was able to get away with wearing my tweed jacket! I hope you had a great time, mate!

Cheers,

**Slider** · 6th August 13, 05:14 AM

Originally Posted by Hawk

.....Nile, Andy, Kyle and others.....did you all forget your Dandelions for fellow XMTS identification?

Hawk

Unfortunately my organically grown dandelion, hand plucked from the fields by a young maiden, reacted poorly to Saturday's heat... It wilted in no time at all...

**creagdhubh** · 6th August 13, 05:16 AM

Superb photos, Nile! My wife took a few and I'll see about getting them uploaded as soon as I can. Unfortunately, we ended up not taking many photos at this event and I'm not sure why. Perhaps we became too busy perusing through all of the vendors and generally, just getting our bearings on the vast layout of the festival. Our biggest regret is not better organising a place and time to meet up with fellow XMTS members, and not taking enough photos.

Cheers,

**Nile** · 6th August 13, 12:18 PM

Originally Posted by creagdhubh

Superb photos, Nile! My wife took a few and I'll see about getting them uploaded as soon as I can. Unfortunately, we ended up not taking many photos at this event and I'm not sure why. Perhaps we became too busy perusing through all of the vendors and generally, just getting our bearings on the vast layout of the festival. Our biggest regret is not better organising a place and time to meet up with fellow XMTS members, and not taking enough photos.

Cheers,

I hear you Kyle, vast indeed. However, I was impressed with overall organization of the event, crowd management, low key security, etc. The event is very much family oriented and I saw no trouble or trouble makers (and there was a lot of beer being consumed). Though they check all bags, purses & sporrans going in, they weren't checking for sgian dubh's and I saw several people wearing them. I didn't wear one because on the nature of the event.

I actually had a strawberry leaf tucked behind the Clan Fraser badge on my bonnet, (strawberry leaf is the symbol of the Fraser Clan). I picked it from my daughters' back yard before we went over to the festival on Saturday (couldn't find any dandelions in their nearly perfect yard).

I think this is going to be a yearly family event for us (a great excuse to get an extra visit with the kids). Perhaps next year we can organize a meet for XMTS members. Besides, Kyle still has 24 unused tokens. By my calculations, that's 8 beers. OH Yah!

int:

Nile