Will County Celtic Festival - 2016

What a terrific event!  The Naperville Hurling Club, represented by Amie Basic, Shannon Davison, Delaney Moran, Andy Moran and Kevin Pearson, manned a hurling and Irish language booth at the Will County Celtic Festival on August 27, 2016.  This was the third year the NHC has attended this terrific event and the first year that we successfully introduced the Irish Language to the attendees. The women baked and made an assortment of Irish themed treats for the event.  The group posted Irish words about the grounds and had the kids do a scavenger hunt for the words.  The trick was that once they found the words, they had to write the card number on their scavenger sheet and then guess what word represented in English.  Many kids participated and walked happily away with treats in hand and a bit more knowledge of Ireland and its culture.  Hurling / Camogie were big hits again this year with all of the helpers teaching people about the game and taking them out to a side field for lessons and a quick puck around.  Last year's efforts yielded the Davison family, Shannon, Kate and Doug, so we are cautiously optimistic that we might score some more players this year too.  Shannon has been a staple of the team this fall and Kate is a very handy player who, at just 13, shows the courage and skills to play with the adults already.  

Special thanks to the Irish American Society of County Will for inviting us and for being so supportive of our efforts to spread the lessor known aspects of Irish culture, namely the sports and language.  Most Irish festivals focus on the music, dancing, drinking and socializing, so it was no small gamble for them to add these features.  We look forward to doing the event again next year with even better results!