Hello Everyone, The Irish are in town!!!!! This event is free to the public!!!!

I wanted to take this final opportunity to thank a few people who have worked with me to line everything up to make this 1st annual Authentic Ireland Festival a truly memorable event. OMore College and Dr.Mark Hilliard have been instrumental in helping me these past few months. Thank you so much to Dr. Hilliard and the staff and students of OMore College. Thanks to the local musicians and dancers who have donated their talents to the 1st annual Authentic Ireland Festival. We really do appreciate their support and talent. A very special thanks to Chad Vance of www. Hobnobfranklin.com for being our media sponsor this past week. He has worked tirelessly to promote the festival with tremendous success and is an all-around great person. Id like to mention Lance Yelvington of http://www.cybercountry.com/ for all his help in the final festival setup details. Thank you Lance and I miss Jeannie!! Thanks to all the local media and their generous coverage of the upcoming festival. Thanks to all the vendors, especially those from Memphis who have worked so hard to promote the festival and who changed their schedules to be in Franklin to support our 1st annual festival. Thank you Memphis!! I am grateful to the local vendors for sponsoring water and sodas for the volunteers and the artists. I also appreciate the facepainters, Rob the Balloon Guy and Roger and Soldier from www.minidonks.com for their participation in out festival. And lastly, a heartfelt thanks to Davis Watson for working with me to have the Authentic Ireland Festival play host the premiere of Good Piping. It is an honor. Congratulations to him on a wonderful achievement. Tim Ryan Buckley, founder of the Middle Tennessean Hurling Club has also been an integral part of the Authentic Ireland Festival. Thanks to Tim and his team for their support of our festival and we look forward to seeing them in action over the festival weekend. Last minute details, Gaelic lessons are now available from 10am to 12noon, 2pm to 4pm and 4pm to 5pm on Saturday and on Sunday morning, 11am to 12noon.

Please note the schedule for the Literary Booth Ciara Dowling from Roscommon , Ireland will run the Welcome / Filte Table which will be located in Abbeyleix mansion, the main building of OMore College. You can follow her on Twitter on @ciaradowling. If you have any questions over the festival days, please drop by and have a chat with Ciara. You can follow me on Twitter @dairire. On Sunday morning at 9.30am, there will be An Irish Christian Celebration featuring the musicians from Ireland. This is open to any musicians who would like to participate. Please email me on eiliscrean@gmail.com if you would like more information on this part of the festival. Again, please take a few moments to connect with us on Facebook: ils Crean, Culture Ireland Tennessee and the Middle Tennessee Hurling Club. Heres the final rundown on what we have going on this weekend.

MUSICIANS FROM WEST OF IRELAND Mire ine N Iarnin old style dancing (sean ns) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wszbzvWVpZk Johnny g Connolly - button accordion http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKC1Dptv3ro Meait J Shamuis Ftharta (Uilleann pipes, flute) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbHt_IsGb_8 Mairin Ui Cheide old-style singing (sean ns) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-QjheCm0nY ils Crean Irish Fiddle www.eiliscreansite.com Frances Cunningham Irish Bouzouki http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2fqmepdQyg

SCHEDULE Friday, August 5th The Factory at Franklin, Franklin, TN 6pm - A Taste of Ireland featuring artists all the way from the west of Ireland, The Kristin Butke School (KBS) school of Irish dance, narratives on Tennessee/Ireland history from The Battle of Franklin Trust, The Foreign Language Acting Group

presentation of The Conversation (Irish play), Middle Tennessee Hurling Club, a cil and lots more. 8.30pm Jamming seisin back at OMore College of Design. Enjoy a pint and some great music, song and dance. Saturday, August 6th OMore College of Design OMORE CLASSROOMS 10am to 12pm Workshops on fiddle, button accordion, uilleann pipes, flute, old Irish style dancing and singing and Irish bouzouki. 2pm to 4pm More workshops fiddle, button accordion, uilleann pipes, flute, old Irish style dancing and singing and Irish bouzouki. MAIN STAGE 12noon ils Crean, Sen Cunningham, Frances Cunningham, Meait J Shamuis Ftharta, Mirn U Chide, Johnny g Connolly, Mary Ann Hernon, Bill Wolfe, Franko Hashiguchi and Craig Pitman. ** American National Anthem sung by Craig Pitman ** ** Irish National Anthem sung by singers from Ireland ** 1pm The Scott-Ellis School of Irish dancing. 2pm - The Kristin Butke School (KBS) school of Irish Dance. 3pm - Nashville Cil Band and Skip Cleavinger. 4pm Official US launch of Johnny g Connollys solo album Aisling Yoshua (Joshua's Dream). 5pm Seisin featuring all musicians both local and from Ireland. 5.30pm - Meet and Greet for Good Piping premiere. 6pm Good Piping premiere. 7.15pm Premiere after-party a celebration. 8pm Acoustic concert featuring a variety of musicians, singers and dancers, narratives on Tennessee/Ireland history from The Carter House, The Foreign Language Acting Group presentation of The Conversation (Irish play) and lots more. OMORE GROUNDS Middle Tennessee Hurling Club Various team / solo demonstrations of the sport between 12noon and 5pm We are a new Gaelic Hurling team forming in the Middle Tennessee area. Currently members range from 19-29 years old. Some attend community college while others attend Middle Tennessee State University. We are merely weeks old but growing fast with very driven and dedicated athletes. In the coming months we hope to join an American Hurling league and in time competing with true Irish ferocity! Timothy R. Buckley Founder of Middle Tennessee Hurling club Literary Booth (12noon 5pm) 1pm to 1.45pm Dr. Jan Hayes Wise Oonagh ( see program for details). 2pm to 2.45pm Dr. Mark Hilliard (book reading). 2.45pm to 3.30pm The Foreign Language Acting Group Discussion on The Conversation (Irish play) by Jaz Dorsy.

3.30pm to 4.15pm Ciara Dowling, Co. Roscommon, Ireland - A variety of lectures and presentations that connect the musical, dance and singing traditions of Ireland to the Tennessee musical heritage. 4.15pm 5pm The Battle of Franklin Trust (Jim Knight and Rob Cross) - Narratives on Patrick Cleburne and other local Irish heroes. Tours of OMore College of Design going all day starting at 12noon, and every hour thereafter. Last tour at 5pm Sunday, August 7th OMore College of Design 9.30am Irish Christian Celebration with music from local and visiting artists. 11am to 12noon Workshops on fiddle, button accordion, uilleann pipes, flute, old Irish style dancing and singing and Irish bouzouki 12noon - Nashville Cil Band (Main Stage) 2pm Sister City of Franklin and Williamson County Passport to the World Series event 3.30pm Meet and Greet before Second showing of Good Piping 4pm Good Piping 5.15pm Good Piping after-party a celebration 6pm Jamming seisin and close of festival

Thanks to everyone for all their support and these past few months as we have prepared for this great event. I look forward to meeting you all and I encourage you to come and find me to say hello. Le gach dea ghu, ils Crean