SIGH SCRAPBOOK
What we do, when we do it, etc.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Suncoast Irish & Gaelic Heritage is excited about our upcoming year of Irish fun!
We are looking forward to a grand 2022 with SIGH.
We hope you will be joining us as we share our wonderful Irish culture & traditions at our events and through our Facebook page.
Please visit our MEMBERSHIP INFO page for the details
to become a member and/or a SIGH SPONSOR!
SLAINTE'
An Awesome Sunday at the Market
March 6th, 2022
Gary & I are starting our St. Patrick's Day goings on at the Pinellas Park Farmer's Market.
The Vintage Celt vendor has lots of Irish & Celtic Gifts & goodies here today.
Suncoast Irish & Gaelic Heritage is well represented at the market today. One of our SIGH founding Officers, Billy William R Fisher, is here with us too...Yay!!!
Our fellow St. Pete Shanties singing friend,
Anne L. Hall hung out for a while in the later part of the market AND she got us singing some good ol' Irish tunes for the crowd. That was fun!
Past St. Pete Folk Fair Society President- George White visited with us while he was at the market.
Many folks that have Irish heritage have stopped to chat and are going to be connecting with us to become members!
Several people remember SPIFFS and are ready to go the next Folk Fair in October.
How cool izzat!!! Slainte' Goody
A GRAND TIME AS WE CONTINUE CELEBRATING ST. PATRICK'S DAY
SUNDAY MARCH 20th, 2022
What a beautiful evening for Irish music, laughter & meeting new friends!!!
Gary Fuller and I are always so glad to represent our wonderful organization.
Thank you to Ronan, Karen and the staff at Mary Margaret's Irish Pub in downtown St. Pete
for their fine hospitality.
Cage O'Hanlon did some great arrangements of some favorite tunes... even after a long weekend of St. Patrick's Day celebrations .
We enjoyed some wonderful conversation over a pint with Nicole and Christer Saarikko
and Mr. & Mrs. Saarikko, Christer's parents.
We met a lovely lady from Chicago, Linda Jeno Vollinger . We will be catching up with her again soon!
Pleasantly surprised to see an old friend, Matthew Mitchell , along with his lady, now a new friend to me, Janette Pomeroy . Janette is the new Pres of the Dunedin NWC.
Matthew is now the Sgt-at-Arms. Congratulations to both of you, and thank you for your support of the NWC and Suncoast Irish & Gaelic Heritage .
STAY TUNED for the next Suncoast Irish & Gaelic Heritage get-together. We will continue to support our SIGH member musicians as we arrange to meet where they are playing.
Have a grand week everyone!
OH WHAT FUN AT THE CLAN VILLAGE OF THE
DUNEDIN HIGHLAND GAMES!!!
Ya gotta read this article!!!
Yes, it was an awesome weekend. Can't wait for the next one!
Thank you Arielle Bader & Chris Urso of the Tampa Bay Times.
Yippee SIGH!!!
Wow! Thank you so much to Sarah Powers-NWC EC President- for sharing this photo of the SIGH club and its banner at the Dunedin Highland Games. The terrific photographer is Jen Lumm!
---------------------------------------------------------------
A GREAT DAY AT THE GAMES!!!
Suncoast Irish & Gaelic Heritage, Inc (SIGH) was proudly representing Irish & Gaelic heritage & culture at the Dunedin Highlands Games & Festival on Saturday April 2nd.
We were amongst the clans in the famed "Clan Village", nestled between Clan Stewart & Clan Davidson. Our lil' tent was bustling with folks that are of Scots-Irish heritage, and we loved hearing their families' stories.
This gave us an opportunity to share our club and to let everyone know about the St. Petersburg International Folk Fair that will take place on October 20th - 22nd, 2022
Suncoast Irish & Gaelic Heritage will host the Irish representation at the SPIFFS fair. We are always looking for like-minded folk to be part of this grand annual event with us.
At noon is the grand parade of Pipe Bands & Clans. How exciting it was to march before the grandstand with "Honored Chieftain of the Day" Terry Eldridge, and many other officials. We had a fine group of 27 of us to wave our flags of Ireland. The cheers as we approached the field were so amazing to hear. We thank all of those well-wishers that showed us
some Celtic love!!!
Our "IRISH MOONSHINE" Raffle Basket was won by Lisa Bekiaris of Hudson. The basket was personally delivered to her by our SIGH Vice President, Skip DeMontozon.
Congratulations Lisa!!!
Just a note: about 2:30 pm - the skies opened up and the rain poured...almost in monsoon proportions.
YEP, we got wet!!! But it was still a grand day.
A tremendous thank you to our SIGH Founding members that made our tent so successful... Rose Graham Doyle, Merikay Larrabee, Gary Fuller, Skip DeMontozon & Donna Dee DeMilo.
Again, a big thank you to those folks that marched behind the SIGH banner and waved those flags!
SIGH send many thanks to Terry Eldridge, Robert Peirson,
Amber Caldwell and the New World Celts for their
awesome & welcoming hospitality.
We are so looking forward to participating again in 2023!!!
SIGH GOES TO THE SPIFFS SUMMERTIME PICNIC!
Dia libh go léir, Hello all.
SIGH (Suncoast Irish & Gaelic Heritage) enjoyed a summer picnic celebration at Lake Seminole with SPIFFS (St. Petersburg International Folk Fair Society)
A great welcome to our newer members from Spring Hill,
Chuck & Deb Chuck McAdams .
A shout out to fellow SIGH picnic-ers... Rose Graham Doyle,
Skip DeMontozon, Peter & Susan Brennan , and Gary Fuller,
and SIGH guests Lissa Heenan, Katy & Lauren.
Gary was the "Kilted Grill-Master" of the day"
In addition to our Irish club - there were a number of folks from the Ukrainian, Indian, Russian, German & a couple folks from the Scottish club.
We all enjoyed the exciting music by Andrei Cheine. He played songs from all of our cultures, and we sang, and we danced!
What fun! Lots of delicious foods were shared!
A grand time was had by all! We look forward to doing this again!
Thank you ALL for a wonderful afternoon
of camaraderie & friendship!!
S.I.G.H. SUMMER SIZZLE SOCIAL !!!
Thank you to the fine group of SIGH folks that joined us for our Summer Sizzler Social at Mollly Malone's Irish Pub in Tampa.
Many great thanks to Brendan Nolan for the great evening of music.
We had a blast getting to spend some time together... several of us meeting in person
for the first time!
We are pleased to introduce brand new members Oisín Ó Ruacháinn and his lovely bride, Brittany Ó Ruacháinn .
Members Gerry O'Connor and his awesome wife, Kelly Vega came from Spring Hill with our SIGH VP, Skip DeMontozon.
A huge welcome to Mary McCanny Borsky and her friend Kelly for adding some more flair to our tables!
Mary did a fantastic ASL accompaniment to "Grace" with Brendan.
Gary, Oisin & Skip took turns at being the "vanna white of the raffle basket"
Thank you to our members and fellow Pub-goers for their donations and support of Suncoast Irish & Gaelic Heritage .
The basket was won by Patsy Mayo. The Irish kilt pin was won by Brittany. Oisin is proudly sporting it on his jacket!
It was sure good to see Barbara Smith, Beverly & Bob, and definitely great to see old friend David Partlow. (It's been quite a while good buddy)
A note of Thanks to Aoife & Rory at Molly Malone's for setting up and waiting on our tables.
Once again, a round of applause to SIGH member & wonderful Irish musician, Brendan Nolan, for a grand evening
of music for our Summer Sizzler Social. See y'all at our next event!!
NEXT UP... ???
Suncoast Irish & Gaelic Heritage is going to be
making a special appearance at a major event
in Tampa Bay!
Suncoast Irish & Gaelic Heritage has been invited to join in with the Tampa Bay Rays at the Tropicana Stadium for their "Irish Heritage Night" celebrations.
Saturday August 20th (game time about 4:00 pm)
The Rays coordinator has offered us a dedicated area to mingle, watch the game and enjoy supporting our home team together.
Thank you to everyone that was with Suncoast Irish & Gaelic Heritage at IRISH HERITAGE NIGHT WITH THE RAYS!
Lots of good company, some cool swag and a winning home team!
Thank you to Rays event coordinator - Daniel Schonborn for creating a
great game experience for SIGH!
CONGRATULATIONS to Denise Williams for winning the Kevin Kiermaier autographed baseball in our SIGH club raffle.
Thank you to Rays event coordinator, Daniel Schonborn, for making that happen! (All of our group attendees received a ticket to be eligible)
We were joined by the one & only Liam the Leprechaun! You'll be seeing
more of him around very soon!!
A bunch of us carpooled to the Trop after meeting for lunch at PoFolks.
That was a very nice time for talking and getting to know each other.
Our ball game troupe was 26 folks strong...from St. Pete, Tampa, Sarasota, Clearwater, Palm Harbor, South Lakeland, North Lakeland, Orlando & Wauchula. Izzat cool or what!!!!!
Here are a few photos to share!
PLAY BALL!!
Get yer' IRISH ON!!!
Suncoast Irish & Gaelic Heritage celebrated
Halfway to St. Pat's Day at McArthur's Irish Pub
FOOD - MUSIC - RAFFLES - AND A LEPRECHAUN!
Suncoast Irish wishes to thank Arthur Paula of McArthur's Irish Pub for hosting our SIGH groups for a grand Halfway to St. Pat's party.
He arranged for us to have lots of "GUINNESS GOODIES"
to raffle along with our SIGH raffle baskets.
We all enjoyed a fine meal and some terrific tunes
by Pat Dunlea from Cork!
Liam the Leprechaun was in the house.
Of course, he guarded his pot o' gold very well!
Thank you to Maria Cain for the awesome photos!
SUNCOAST IRISH VILLAGE AT SPIFFS
St. Petersburg International Folk Fair
THE BIG EVENT OF THE YEAR!!!
October 20th, 21st, 22nd, 2022
MANY THANKS TO OUR WONDERFUL SPONSORS
AND VOLUNTEERS!!!
Thank you for our wonderful SPONSORS AND SUPPORTERS of the SPIFFS Folk Fair 2022 with Suncoast IRISH !!
*Downing Funeral Home & Cremation Services -
Spring Hill, Fl / Mark Downing
*Ancient Order of Hibernians - Spring Hill Chapter -
*Friends of Florida Folk - www.foff.org
*Cage O'Hanlon and Mary Margaret's Olde Irish Tavern -
St. Petersburg, Fl
*Celtic Heritage Productions - Marcille Wallis https://www.facebook.com/CelticFamilyTribe
*Vintage Celt
Seanchai Productions / Libby Higdon
*New World Celts - www.newworldceltsinc.org
*Skip DeMontozon
*Rose Graham Doyle
*Chuck McAdams - www.ASBfinancial.com
*Peter Brennan - Author, Sailor, Marine Life Research
*Florida Gael Online Newsletter -
Publishers Oisín Ó Ruacháinn & Brittany Ó Ruacháinn
* Mickey Quinn's Irish Pub - Seminole, Fl
dia dhuit!!
THERE ARE MANY PEOPLE TO THANK for their support and participation at our SPIFFS Irish Village.
CLICK HERE
to read more...
A S.I.G.H. HOLIDAY CELEBRATION !!
Thank you to the wonderful folks that attended the celebration of our amazing Irish Village at the St. Petersburg International Folk Fair as we shared each other's company & good wishes for the upcoming holidays.
We were able to enjoy some awesome food presented by Chef McKenna, Julio and their team at MICKEY QUINN's in Seminole... and some very good music by Newfoundland transplant – Jimmy Bragg. He had some really cool originals that made you think you were listening to Stan Rogers!!!
IMPORTANT Suncoast Irish BUSINESS:
We also held our Suncoast Irish & Gaelic Heritage 2023/2024 election
of officers. Please welcome your executive officers:
Skip DeMontozon – Vice President
Billy Fisher – Treasurer
Cheri Adams – Secretary
Goody Haines – President
Suncoast Irish & Gaelic Heritage is pleased to welcome our newest members: Linda Horrell and Gary Horrell.
They came to our Holiday Gathering and joined on the spot!!! Thank you Linda & Gary, for your friendship and support!
Our former SIGH secretary, Kim Graham, won a sweet raffle basket.
Another raffle basket, and a Lil’ Gnome bundle raffle were won by 2 of
Mickey Quinn’s patrons. The 50/50 was won by Anthony N. Congratulations!!
To all: You are invited to become a member & supporter of Suncoast Irish
& Gaelic Heritage, visit the membership page of the website at www.suncoastirish.com
Give us a few details and hit the paypal button (or mail in a check) and
you will be a grand part of the best Irish club in Tampa Bay!!!
Yours in Celtic Harmony,
Your SIGH OFFICERS
Sláinte
MERRY CHRISTMAS
AND PEACEFUL HOLIDAY WISHES
TO ALL OF OUR Suncoast Irish MEMBERS AND FRIENDS
as we close this year and prepare for an exciting 2023 together!!!
nollaig shona dhuit!
You are invited to join Suncoast Irish & Gaelic Heritage!
You can do this today at the SIGH website. (www.suncoastirish.com)
(go to the membership page for the paypal link OR you can also mail a check)
We are also seeking SPONSORS for our bustling and growing Irish village
at the International Folk Fair of October 2023
WE THANK THE MANY GOOD FOLKS THAT HAVE MADE SUNCOAST IRISH SUCH A SUCCESS!
