Home Page > Entertainment > Longtime volunteers are now winners at Worlds

Blogs

News

Sport

Entertainment

Advice
- Green Card

Roots

Make a comment

Larger Text

E-mail

Longtime volunteers are now winners at Worlds

APRIL DREW

IrishCentral.Com Staff Writer

Published Saturday, April 11, 2009, 12:26 PM

Updated Thursday, July 23, 2009, 5:46 PM

Read more: Competitive Dance, Dance, Entertainment, Irish Dance, Performing Arts, Tipperary

Ed and Kathy Hansbury from New Jersey

SEE RESULTS

WATCH FULL COVERAGE

VIEW AND UPLOAD PICTURES AND VIDEO

Tonight is a special night for an Irish couple from New Jersey.

Ed and Kathy Hansbury, who are not Irish dancers nor Irish dance teachers, are this years Gradam Award Winners of the World Irish Dance Championships.

The Hansburys are volunteers at the Worlds and have been for the past 23 years. They are the people who make sure the successful dancers each get a piece of Tipperary crystal as a token of their success.

Ed and Kathy’s volunteering adventures began years ago in Florida.

Ed, who is a Tipperary crystal’s representative since 1989, was given the job of transporting all the championship trophies from New Jersey to Florida.

“We did so in a trailer and I said I would never do it again,” he said with a laugh.

“That was our first adventure doing crystal awards for the dancing community and then it just spread all over, all the different regions have used Tipperary crystal,” he said.

This is the couple’s tenth World Championship. However, they have been supplying Tipperary crystal for awards such as the All-Irelands, mid-Atlantic region and many more for 23 years.

“This is my thing,” said Ed who hails from Dungarven, Co. Waterford. Kathy is from Claremorris, Co. Mayo and the couple now live in northwestern New Jersey.

“I don’t go to the bar, so I really enjoy all these competitions,” Ed said, adding proudly that he is a pioneer.

Speaking about having the Worlds right on their doorstep, Kathy said, “I think it’s wonderful and it’s nice to see, especially this capacity, the Worlds to move around a little bit. It makes everybody happier on this side of the Atlantic and the other side of the Atlantic. It’s nice. It adds to it, especially at this level.”

1 2 Next page >

Vote now - Buzz this story up!

RELATED ARTICLES
RELATED TOPICS

E-mail

Be the first to make a comment.

Join us - follow IrishCentral.com

Fan us

Google Buzz

Join us - follow IrishCentral.com

Facebook

Buzz

Twitter

As the Irish people have a genuine sense of fun, Irish entertainment can be found in every town, village, city and county. One of the most popular forms is the festival, which is used to celebrate all sorts of occasions &emdash; everything from literary pursuits to a love of oysters. Here are a few highlights of entertainment in Ireland throughout the year: Londonderry boasts the biggest Halloween Festival in the world with around 30,000 celebrating the ancient Celtic New Year every October. Grab a dodgy mask and join the party! / The Belfast Festival at Queen’s is Ireland’s biggest International Festival and boasts an eclectic mix of music, talks, comedy, exhibitions and film. / The Galway Races, the Rose of Tralee Festival, Puck Fair in Killorglin, and the Oul’ Lammas Fair in Ballycastle are world famous and offer a great chance to enjoy Irish entertainment, life and laughs with the locals. / Food festivals are now a big draw in Ireland with local produce scoring high among international foodies. Head to the famous oyster festivals in Clarenbridge in Galway, or Hillsborough, County Down. / Tune in to a spot of music with the Open House Festival in Belfast, the Waterford International Festival of Light Opera, or the Feile an Phobail in west Belfast. Or grab a pint and tap your feet to some cool tunes at the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival. / If you prefer your festivals small and intimate, try the harp festivals in Roscommon or the rough and ready horse and pony fairs from Cavan to Cork. Even today, the horses are priced in guineas, and bought and sold with a spit in the hand. / At the other end of the scale of entertainment in Ireland lies the Wexford Opera Festival with full-scale opera productions, concerts, recitals, talks, cabaret, fireworks, and, of course, parties. / For something a little different, try the Magnus Barelegs Festival in Downpatrick offering a slice of Viking life, or the Eagle Wing Festival in Groomsport, County Down, which celebrates Ireland’s cultural links with America. / Theater fans should head to Dublin for both the Dublin Theatre Festival and the excellent Dublin Fringe Festival, with wildly exciting performances taking place in fabulous venues. / Around March 17, the country turns a shade of green for a host of St Patrick’s Festivals. All over the country, from the Saint’s hallowed burial place in Downpatrick to the more carnival atmosphere of parades and exceptional fireworks in Dublin and Belfast. / Literary lovers should head to Dublin in June for the intriguing Bloomsday Festival, where fans of Joyce’s Gargantuan Ulysses dress up in traditional gear and scoff old Dublin food like “nutty gizzards” and “urine-soaked kidneys”. Alternatively, seek out the delights of the Aspects Literature Festival in Bangor in September, an annual celebration of Irish literature with lectures, discussion and music. But festivals are just one aspect of Irish entertainment—let's not forget about music! From impromptu sessions in your local bar to the thrilling beat of U2, Ireland has always been home to the best sounds of music. Ireland’s massive successes in the Irish entertainment world include some bands and artists you may have heard of…U2, The Corrs, Enya, Westlife, Snow Patrol, Ash, David Holmes, Van Morrison and The Thrills, to name just a few. Unique and distinctive, the harp holds a special place in Irish entertainment and has come to symbolize the harmony of people and music in Ireland. It’s the earliest musical instrument mentioned in Irish literature and has been used as an official emblem for Ireland since medieval times. Today, it’s on Irish passports and stamps. But there's more: Fleadhs, or festivals, are a major part of Irish entertainment as well as cultural life, and impromptu trad sessions have become the stuff of legend at West Belfast’s Feile an Phobail, the Galway Racing Festival or Kerry’s Puck Fair. Rock and dance music festivals are also big news with the Oxegen Festival, Tennents Vital Belfast and the Electric Picnic held in summer.

Blogs

Longtime volunteers are now winners at Worlds

Be the first to make a comment.

Related Items

Join us - follow IrishCentral.com

Join us - follow IrishCentral.com

news

sport

entertainment

gossip

business

travel

advice

opinion

multimedia

roots

food & drink

blogs