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MERA_StPats_night

Feature Article March 20

Feature Article March 20, 2002

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St. Patrick's Pub Night at MERAby Jeff GreenAudience participation is the key to the success of MERA's St. Patrick's day festivities, making it one of the best nights of the year at MERA. This year's installment began with Irish stew and Irish beer, and, although the Guiness ran out woefully early in the evening, the entertainment by the Perth Celtic Fiddle Orchestra made up for that.

This orchestra, which only made its first public performance last June, has increased in confidence and speed in the past nine months. They now also round out the sound with Bodhran, penny whistle, and other stringed instruments on some tunes.

The main events of the evening were the contests. First, children were invited to dance a jig accompanied by solo fiddle, and around 15 complied. Then came the performances of original pieces, many of which were written for the occasion. There were three categories: word-oriented pieces, songs with words, and instrumentals. There were no age categories to the contests, so younger performers competed against their parents.

The audience laughed with and cheered their neighbours through their performances. After the contests were over and the judges had passed out prizes, some of the musicians in the crowd, including some of the remaining members of the Celtic Fiddle Orchestra, jigged and reeled on until all the stew was gone.

With the participation of the Government of Canada