10 March 17 - April 6, 2012 Irish, From Page 1


Irish drinking songs.’” Local Irish-adoring residents have


long embraced Chandler’s Feis in the Desert Dance Festival, which hosts more than 400 Irish step dancers annu- ally. As the event has grown, “so has the passion and desire to take our love of the Irish culture and opportunities for our Chandler community one step fur- ther,” CTSC explained in its June 2008 appeal to the Chandler City Council. The group added that Tullamore’s pop- ulation and economy seemed a good fit for a Sister City relationship. The Council was “very impressed by


Community


around 250,000 residents, and is home to international companies such as Boston Scientific and Tyco Healthcare. The Sister City relationship between Chandler and Tullamore has opened the door to new business exchanges between the two. “We had contacts in Tullamore, both on the


the number of people who showed up,” recalls Harrington. “We presented it as an independent nonprofit, so that we wouldn’t ask for City monies, but we would do every- thing with fundraising and sponsorships, and they said, ‘Take it away.’” Tullamore, the capital


CAPTION: DO THE DEW: Tullamore Dew, that is, as in Irish whiskey as presented to CTSC President Ellen Harrington by Tony McCormack, chairperson of Tullamore-Chandler Sister Cities Committee and member of the Tullamore and District Chamber Council. Submitted photo


business and resident side, so it just made it very easy,” says Harrington, adding that dur- ing their most recent trip, Tullamore repre- sentatives visited Chandler’s Innovations Science & Technology Incubator and Gangplank. “They were so impressed by those two enti-


ties that by the end of the visit we were joking about Gangplank Tullamore,” recalls Harrington. “I understand they’ve created a somewhat similar space and format.” Personal ties with Tullamore residents have also been strengthened. CTSC’s Facebook


The V-Knights blues band from Chandler performed at the 2011 September Concert organized by the Chandler Tullamore Sister City group. Submitted photo


of County Offaly in the Midlands of Ireland, has a 400-year history that includes Elizabethan sol- diers, whiskey distilleries, famine and even the world’s first aviation dis- aster, the “famous bal- loon fire of 1785,” when an air balloon crashed on takeoff, igniting a fire that destroyed more than 100 houses. Today, County Offaly has


page gets “a couple of requests a day from Ireland, wanting to be friends,” says Harrington, and several Chandlerites have traveled to Tullamore. Harrington, who visited in 2007, describes the intensely green landscape as “culture shock” for desert dwellers and calls the residents “very friendly.” Since uniting Chandler with its only Sister City,


Harrington’s group has been busier than ever. CTSC recently released the cookbook “Desert Fare,” with recipes from Seton Catholic High School students in Chandler and Sacred Heart Secondary School students in Tullamore. Funds from the project will go toward a student exchange program to debut in 2013. The group is currently accept- ing submissions for the third annual Young Artists & Authors Showcase, and Harrington hopes to organize a 5K event next winter to mark the visit of a Tullamore running group. CTSC hosts Irish Connection social evenings at Chandler’s Coach & Willie’s, sponsors an annual


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TEA, SCONES: Attendees at CTSC’s first “Southwest Tea” were treated to Irish dancers and singers along with traditional scones and tea. Submitted photo


September Concert and will take part in Phoenix’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade. “We’re searching for new ways to celebrate people’s Irish


roots,” says Harrington. “We can always use new mem- bers, new ideas.” And, while striving to bring a bit of Ireland to the desert,


Harrington sometimes lets her mind wander to the lush beauty she witnessed in Tullamore. “When things get too fast, I tell my husband, ‘I just need


to be back in Ireland, sitting on a 1,000-year-old stone fence, watching sheep graze.’” To learn more about CTSC, visit www.chandlerirish.org, email


chan.to.tull@gmail.com or call Harrington at 480-600-8509. K. M. Lang lives and writes in Sun Groves. To contact her,


email KMLang@SanTanSun.com.


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