When the weather starts to warm up in spring time, everyone is anxious to get out of the house and enjoy the start of the outdoor festival season.

It's true for those folks at the Irish Arts Center as well as they escape for a day from their West 51st Street home in Hell's Kitchen for a day on the Hudson River for their seventh annual New York City Irish Dance Festival on Saturday, May 4 from 1-8 p.m.

There is a new location this year on the Upper West Side at the Riverside Park South Pier 1 at West 70th Street convenient to 72nd Street Broadway line station which ought to afford some cooling breezes off the river for the festival.

On tap this year to both perform and teach will be a familiar array of dancers like Donny Golden, Niall O'Leary and Darrah Carr, who all maintain their own dance schools in the greater New York City area and have performed in the six previous editions of the festival.

In addition there will be guest appearances by the Hudson Valley-based dance school Solas an Lae (Light of Day) from Red Hook, New York and the Bronx troupe called Keltic Dreams taught by Caroline Duggan at P.S. 159.

There will also be an Irish dance panel choreographed by Dr. Mick Moloney, who has also been associated with the event down through the years, most notably in 2005 when it coincided with a fascinating "Close to the Floor Conference on Percussive Dance" hosted at NYU's Glucksman Ireland House.

A number of University of Limerick students participated at the conference and the festival, and it afforded then graduate student Jean Butler, who was studying modern dance at UL, a chance to return to her New York roots.

Watching her skillfully lead an hour workshop was almost as impressive as her more famous star-turn as the eye-catching Riverdance female lead, and certainly more revealing about how she feels about her craft and the children who gravitate towards it.

The site will have four areas of entertainment, with the main stage hosting most of the performance and the others more of the participatory events associated with the festival. Times may be subject to change but the main stage will lead off at 1 p.m. with the Niall O'Leary School of Irish Dance followed quickly by children's ceili dancing. Keltic Dreams comes on at 2 p.m., followed by a Niall O'Leary workshop at 2:15 p.m. when the Donny Golden dancers will dance (his workshop is at 3:30 p.m.), followed by Darrah Carr at 3:15 p.m.

Solas an Lae performs at 4:15 p.m. with an adult ceili and set workshop at 4:30 p.m. followed by another stint from the Niall O'Leary dancers before instructions are laid to rest and a full-fledged ceili runs from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Area two will have Irish language sessions for adults from 1:15 to 2 p.m. and for children at 2:15 p.m., followed by an Irish song circle at 3:30 p.m. and Moloney's panel discussion at 4:30 p.m. Area three will be a space for music sessions to spring up all afternoon, while face-painting and arts and crafts for children will occupy area four.

In addition there will be a full bar and café and Irish crafts to help pass the time. The festival is free to the general public and will be held rain or shine.

It is part of the Summer on the Hudson, a free series of arts and cultural festivals in Riverside Park South presented by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. For more info contact the Irish Arts Center at 212-757-3318 or visit www.irishartscenter.org.

Meanwhile, across the East River in Long Island City, another collaborative fund raiser by Craobh Ull Mor CCE (formerly known as the Big Apple branch based in Manhattan) and the New York Irish Center (Ull Mor's new home) hosts a spring concert on Saturday, April 26 at 7:30 p.m.

The concert is called "The Spirit of Our Music: A Celebration of Irish Traditional Music" and it could also imply the generosity of spirit from the musicians who are donating their talents and time to help raise funds for the two organizations that have formed a strong bond there at 10-40 Jackson Avenue near the Vernon Boulevard station of the 7 train and close to the Midtown Tunnel entrance on the Queens side. S

Scheduled to appear and perform are Jerry O'Sullivan, Linda Hickman, Don Meade, Bernadette Fee, John Kennedy, Dylan Foley, Keith Sammut, Brendan Fahey and Maura Mulligan. All proceeds will benefit

Craobh ll Mr Nua Eabhrac CC..., the New York branch of CC... and the New York Irish Center.

Admission is $20, which Includes soda, tea and coffee. Call Maureen at 718-440-2616 or visit www.myspace.com/ullmorcce.