2007 Irish Hooley
| Is this a great city or what? Who says two big festivals can't coexist in the same night... in nearly the same place. Last night was proof positive at the 2007 Irish Hooley and the second night of Summer's Last Blast 8 filled the air at the Port of Dubuque with music. We visited the Hooley twice during the day, once under bright sunny skies with Pat Reidy and Lads taking the already big crowd through a host of classic traditional Irish tunes followed by an impressive display by the lovely and talented girls of the Dubuque Claddagh Irish Dancers. See lots of pictures of them in the gallery below. We returned in the evening to what can only be called a capacity crowd. There must have been five thousand people packed into the Alliant Amphitheater to see the headliners, Gaelic Storm, whip the crowd into an Irish frenzy. What a stunning sight from the fourth floor of the Brewery looking down at the crowd. The few pictures we got from that vantage could not begin to do the sight justice. | If the crowd at 2 p.m. was already larger than any previous year's entire draw for the Hooley, then I imagine the evening crowd simply brought the event organizers to tears. Hospice of Dubuque, the benefactor of the night's proceeds, is sure to reap a stunning windfall from all the fun. Kudos to the Dubuqueland Irish a365 is thrilled to have played a part in the event with the website creation and, of course, a cover story in 365ink. Moving to event downtown was a pretty decent idea after all. Tune in tomorrow for photos from two nights of Summer's last Blast, the second festival of the weekend at the Port where even more thousands of Tri-States packed in to hear great rock and roll including headliner Kip Winger. What a great weekend to be a Dubuquer! Isn't it something special when your community is active and thriving enough to make two great events so successful simultaneously. I think we need a longer summer... |
